


The Embrace of Death and the Kiss of Life

by GarGoyl



Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Drama, F/M, Horror, Implied Sexual Content, Magic-Users, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-13
Updated: 2014-11-16
Packaged: 2018-02-25 06:53:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 51,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2612375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GarGoyl/pseuds/GarGoyl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With barely any memory of her past life as a meister, Maka was sentenced to serve in a Temple of Death for the rest of her days. But maybe death is not the only way out… Kid/Maka darkfic, slightly AU. Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Eater</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

The wild wind swept through the large silk curtains at the cave entrance, inflating the dark cloths and making them dance eerily against the pale blue sky. The leafless branches of the trees growing on the slope in ancient crevices clashed into one another, disturbing the silence. Maka inhaled deeply, gripping the edge of the stone railing with both hands as her loose hair fluttered around her face and whipped at her cold reddened cheeks.

Behind her, the Temple was slowly coming to life for another day. The blonde could catch sight of several figures – Brothers and Sisters – walking around, preparing for their daily tasks, but she ignored them. Not yet, she told herself, enjoying a few more minutes of light and fresh air before the stale darkness of the caves would engulf her again.

The Brothers and Sisters never talked. Only the Older One would give short, muttered orders which she'd learned she had better obey and carry out without any comment, but that was it, all the rest was suffocating, stubborn silence. Maka would have liked to have someone to talk to, from time to time. It was a human thing to do, the young servant thought, a human need even, but this was the place where human needs were suppressed, denied, crushed even if necessary. Life itself was barely tolerated as it was, for this was the realm of Death. The people coming to the Temple never talked either. 'The dead don't speak', Maka had been told and everyone who walked past the gates of the Temple was considered to be already dead.

Today she had woken up with a start, brusquely awoken from a dream which she was, as usual, unable to remember. It had been something about her father though, because she had been silently mouthing his name when her eyes had opened to the suffocating obscurity of her small room. _Papa…_ Aside from her own name and age, her father's image was very likely the only thing still lingering in her confused mind that had to do with her past life. Other than that, she remembered nothing else. Every time she tried to search deeper, she would find nothing but a thick fog and a sharp fear.

Shivering a bit, the girl had pulled on the gray, rough cloth which was now her only garment and had hurried to leave her room. The blonde had grown so used to the dark corridor leading from the habitation area to the kitchen and the common dining hall that she no longer needed to grope blindly onto the damp stone walls. The blonde had grabbed a clean bowl and had silently gone to receive the meager daily breakfast – a piece of dark bread and a few spoonfuls of stew.

One thing was for sure, she had not lived all her life at the Temple, quite on the contrary, the blonde was sure she hadn't been here more than a few months, for her oldest memory of the place was of the few trees surrounding the ensemble bearing fresh green leaves and tiny white flowers. But now the flowers and leaves were gone, the branches bare and blackened, swinging in the harsh winter wind. And the other thing Maka was sure of was that she would never leave this place, neither dead nor alive.

The Brothers and Sisters, whose will seemed strangely subdued, were ever watchful of her and she did not dream of disobeying them. Maka had heard of servants of the Temple who had paid for the smallest faults with their eyesight or crippled arms or legs, or with some horrid sickness and she had every reason to believe them. Was this how death was like? To be all alone, forced into perpetual silence and darkness? No, probably not. Death was soothing, at any rate. Eventually she had stopped thinking about why people came to the Temple, seeking to be thus soothed.

Like most mornings, she had walked briskly, crossing the stone yard wet with rain and shielding herself from the biting wind as best as she could, just to see the dawning sun casting a pale gleam onto the narrow, winding pathway leading down into the valley. It was early still for any 'pilgrims' to have arrived yet and it wasn't her job to guide them anyway. No, Maka's job was far more sinister.

Hidden in her garments she carried a few small pieces of dry bread she'd collected from the kitchen. The old woman was there, the ragged cloth covering her from head to toe damp for she had spent the night outside. She was the only one who spoke, but her mind was gone. Maka didn't know where the beggar had come from, or why she was allowed to remain on the Temple grounds despite the fact that sometimes she would go mad and yell blasphemies and curses against them all – the poor, unfortunate 'pilgrims', the Brothers and Sisters and the Death God who had stolen her soul.

But all too soon it was time for Maka to begin her duties and she made her way inside, under the arches. The whole Temple ensemble, aside from the yard was carved directly into the steep mountain slope, like a system of caves. There was barely any light and the walls were cold, but now in wintertime it was slightly better than outside.

A Sister was there, next to the black basin, waiting motionless with a tray of cups, but Maka wouldn't go anywhere near her. The only torches in the large hall were placed in the immediate proximity of the basin, the flickering flames reflecting ominously onto the dark surface. Maka went and sat on the floor, crouched down next to the entrance of the last stone alcove in the back.

She didn't want to see the pilgrims come, or the Death Gods. The pilgrims were too terrible a sight and the Death Gods were not supposed to be looked upon by anyone other than those receiving their embrace. So Maka kept her eyes down as she waited for her work to begin. Lurking in the dark for so long, she had become incredibly adept at knowing sounds when she heard them, so that now she barely needed her eyes. The flutter of garments, fine wool or wavy silk, but also rough cloth scraping against bare skin alerted her of the arrival of those damned by their own volition. Some of them were being guided to the alcoves by a Brother or Sister, whose dragged steps were clearly distinguishable. Sometimes Maka imagined that they were trying to talk with their feet, since they were forbidden to use their lips. But that was just one of the many stories the young servant would tell herself just to take her mind off things while she worked.

The only ones she could not hear were the Death Gods. Their steps were light as if they were no more than gliding shadows and the black robes shrouding their figures seemed to be made of smoke. But they did speak – if only when giving someone their embrace, and by their words Maka knew when their job was over and hers would start.

It was a while before her turn came and even then the blonde waited a bit, just to make sure everything was over. Picking up her basket and the unlit candle, she stepped under the alcove and struck a match. Placing the candle by the bed, Maka glanced down at the white haired woman lying on it, seemingly asleep. Despite the fine clothing, she did not have much on herself other than a simple iron ring on her crooked finger. Maka struggled a bit to pull it off, then deposited it in the basket together with all the woman's garments. The body was then rolled off the bed into a crevice below, from where it was going to be collected and burnt.

* * *

Whether it was a long or short day that day, the blonde didn't know, since there was no telling how the hours passed. The cave had no windows and there was no horologe around. Only the Older One knew when it was time for the Brothers and Sisters to close and seal the large wooden doors before retiring to the habitation area. When the signal came, Maka was almost taken by surprise, caught as she was, as usual, in thinking about anything else than what she was actually doing. But the work wasn't done until she checked one more time whether all the alcoves had been emptied of the pilgrims' bodies.

It was a task she'd do quickly before dinner, expecting no surprises since she'd been paying attention so far. Throwing a rapid glance in each of the alcoves, Maka had almost felt relieved when a dark figure lying onto one of the beds caught her attention. Sighing, she gripped the now empty basket and searched her pocket for matches.

On the bed was lying a boy not older than herself, one pale hand resting onto his chest, while the other still had two fingers hooked around the handle of a empty cup. His skin did not have the yellowy shade of a corpse but was simply porcelain white, without any hint of color. It contrasted strangely with his raven black hair, which bore a few white strands on the side, in the shape of three half circles. Odd, Maka thought, observing the rest of him. He wore a simple black suit, but the large skull shaped brooch adorning his shirt collar was somewhat striking, and so were the two similarly shaped silver rings he wore on the middle finger of each hand.

The blonde realised that she was standing there staring at him, unable to move. _How_ was she supposed to touch him? She'd never seen someone that young giving themselves to the Death Gods' embrace. _Why? Why has he done it?_ she cried inwardly, feeling the protective layer of numbness around her heart suddenly breaking.

Maka's fingers ghosted over the pale hand, gently taking away the empty cup. Any absurd hope she'd entertained for a moment vanished – his hand was cold as ice, he was dead. She turned around, setting the cup onto the small table next to the bed and taking a deep breath. The young servant squeezed her eyes shut, crushing a few unshed tears while bracing herself for what she had to do next. But when she eventually gathered up the courage to turn around and face the bed again, it was empty. The blonde gasped and blinked in utter confusion, then even patted the rough sheets as if to make sure her eyes weren't deceiving her. But the boy was gone. Shaking her head as after a bad dream, Maka picked up her basket and candle and rushed outside, still panting a bit.

* * *

The blonde walked to dinner ignoring everything else around her as she struggled to understand what had just happened. She did not believe in ghosts, nor had she heard anyone speak of them at the Temple, so who or what was that boy? He surely couldn't have been a 'pilgrim', for their bodies did not vanish into thin air like this. His jewels must have had some significance, but he was simply too well dressed to be a Brother, not to mention she knew almost all of them. And there couldn't have been anyone else in the Temple, aside from the Death Gods, but they had no faces. Maka had only caught sight once of a bone white, skull shaped mask completing the tasseled black cloak one of them was wearing. Now that she thought of it, that mask had been oddly similar to the boy's brooch and rings, but still… Did that mean he was a Death God? And if yes, what on earth was he doing there, lying in that bed and without the ceremonial attire? Taking a break?

Maka sat down next to the other Sisters on the hard wooden bench, focusing on her bowl of stew. She was curious about something for the first time in a long while, but there was no one to ask. Even if she had been allowed to speak, the Brothers and Sisters would have probably been angry with her and in the worst case the Older One would have even punished her for seeing something she wasn't supposed to. The blonde hurried to finish her food, eager to get away from them.

"Maka Albarn," the Older One spoke suddenly as she'd stood up and the young servant froze, eyes cast to the ground. Did he know already what had happened? _No, there's no way he knows anything! It can't be!_ His voice was severe as always, such that there was no telling how bad things were as she stood there in horror of the tall, solid man with dark eyes and parchment-like skin.

"You will come of age soon," he said. "And when you do, you will become a full Sister. Do you know what that means?" The blonde had no idea, other than she was soon going to turn sixteen. Shyly, she shook her head no. At any rate, the news of her becoming a 'full Sister' was by no means a happy prospect as it was unlikely to mean anything good.

"The Brothers and Sisters live here as a family. The Sisters are wives to the Brothers and treated as such. When you come of age, you will be a wife too. "

Maka's head shot up in horror, feeling her knees go weak as she scanned frantically the rough faces around the table. He couldn't mean it, it wasn't possible!

"Whose wife…?"

"It doesn't matter, here we share everything," the Older One replied in the same even tone, "I simply expect you to be prepared and behave accordingly"

"But-"

The Older One frowned slightly and waved his hand in dismissal, leaving no room for further discussion. Maka nearly ran to her room, tears trickling down her cheeks. Just how much more horrible was that place going to get? _Wife?_ What were they saying, she was still… much too young for this. And the thought of being married to any of the Brothers and suffer their proximity even more than she was already… The blonde threw herself onto the makeshift bed, burying her face into the ragged blanket.

From the little she remembered, there were about three more months until she would turn sixteen. She had three months in which to figure a way to escape that place or die trying. There was no way in hell – Maka swore to herself – that she would marry a Brother. She'd rather drink a cup of the Black water and let one of the Death Gods give her their embrace. Then the Brothers and Sisters would be able to do nothing more than to burn her body, but at least her soul would be free.

_**To be continued** _


	2. Chapter 2

Two weeks had passed from the dreadful news and Maka still had no plan, no solution. If anything, the Brothers were even more watchful of her, even if the Older One had said nothing more on the subject. After all, the words one uttered in this place were to be kept to a minimum. The Sisters, in which the blonde had never found any kindness to begin with, now paid her no attention whatsoever, even avoided her it seemed. Maybe they were jealous that she was going to be the youngest wife, but if that was the case, Maka thought they needed not worry, because _that_ wasn't going to happen.

The winter days were shorter and colder, yet the old beggar mysteriously endured. The young servant had no idea where the woman spent her nights, for she doubted the Brothers and Sisters would have ever allowed her anywhere inside, but still every morning she was there, wrapped in a worn black cloak which looked as if it had seen many seasons, her curved back propped against the railing as she sat crouched. And she always seemed to be waiting for something, or someone.

Every day Maka would bring her the few leftovers she smuggled out of the kitchen early in the morning and the beggar would take them without a word, sometimes without as much as a glance. _I will not end up like her! I will die before I do…_ The blonde stared down at the strands of dirty white hair framing the woman's temples and her bony hands with thinly stretched, dry skin in repulsion as she reached for the two loafs of bread.

"Why are you here? What are you waiting for?" Maka asked, almost without thinking, surprised at the coarseness of her own voice. But the beggar simply hid the bread in her large sleeve and said nothing. "You could leave, you know," the girl went on, her tone softening a bit, "I'm sure they would let _you_ leave!"

Still receiving no answer, the young servant turned her back on the woman and began to walk away, towards the large wooden doors - it was useless to pay her any more attention.

"You wouldn't understand why I want to stay," the beggar suddenly spoke behind her, "But I can see why _you_ would want to leave," the hag croaked, "They always take young, pretty girls like you and to make them into those creatures called Sisters, so loathsome and ugly, ugly, ugly!"

Maka sped up towards the Temple entrance, wanting to hear no more and regretting she'd struck up a conversation in the first place. Now the beggar was surely going to have one of her fits and the Older One would blame and possibly punish her for it this time.

"You asked why I'm here? Hah! Someone has to spit the truth into their ugly faces and I am the only one who can! Ugly, ugly, ugly!"

The blonde slipped inside, desperate to escape the woman's words. She had hoped to go unnoticed and just go about her usual tasks, but one of the Brothers was waiting for her. His eyes bore a strange gleam under the dark hood, but he said nothing, just held out a bucket and silently let her know that she had to mop the floor in addition to the rest of her work. Once more, Maka couldn't help but notice that he was looking at her in a strange way, rather hostile. Inwardly she shuddered, most likely he'd heard the old woman yell outside and he was going to tell the Older One about it. _Damn it!_ The Brother remained there all day, seemingly without any business of his own, watching her every step. Maka suspected it, but when he drew closer and tried to purposely kick her pail, she knew for sure.

"Brother, what are you-?" She shouldn't have spoken, of course, this just made things a lot worse as it was, but she couldn't help it.

"You know, when you come of age they'll give you to me," he drawled, much to her surprise, catching her arm, a gruesome grin widening his large mouth with crooked teeth. The blonde shuddered and struggled to free her arm from the bruising grip. "You cannot escape me, Maka Albarn, and I will-"

His words were cut short all the sudden as he looked up from where he'd kneeled in front of her crouched frame. Maka turned too, her arm now released by the surprised Brother and her eyes widened. The boy from the other day was standing right behind her. He was now wearing a full Death God attire, but the white bone mask was tilted upwards, revealing his face. The shinigami's large eyes, with irises in the color of liquid gold, were striking on his snow pale face framed by raven black hair. Their gaze was cold and indifferent, but there was something equally frightening and fascinating about it. Maka knew she should have bowed her head too, as no one was supposed to look at them, but found that she couldn't tear her eyes from the boy's.

"This is asymmetrical," he said dryly, eyeing them both and holding up a cup which had one of the two handles broken. "It's disgusting!" The pale, slender fingers flexed lightly, letting the cup drop onto the stone floor with a startling clatter. The golden orbs bore into Maka's for the briefest moment before he turned his back on them and walked away without another word.

* * *

Maka was positively frightened. She didn't know what was scarier – the Brother with his threatening words and his horrid touch, or the Death God, so beautiful and so terrible in the same time. She wanted nothing more than to drop on her small cot, fall asleep and just forget about everything. But now that the dinner was over, she had found that the Brother was there, standing motionlessly in front of her door, like a sinister shadow. Waiting for her. The blonde had stopped dead in her tracks upon the sight, palms pressing her own chest as she'd fought back a gasp. But it was too late, the Brother had spotted her already, his unseen eyes trained on her frozen frame.

She had to do something, right now. Taking a deep breath to calm her pounding heart, Maka turned on her heels and ran down the corridor, away from her room. There was no escape beyond the large terrace courtyard, but maybe the Brother would be reluctant to follow her outside in the cold, now at night. The blonde pulled desperately at the door, swinging it open and darted outside.

It had begun to snow, a thin white layer already covering the stone slabs, and the wind had become even more biting. Pulling her garment tightly around herself in a futile attempt to shield herself from the nasty weather, Maka stopped and looked back through the open door. The Brother was coming, his face still shadowed, but his step steady and determined. The young servant's eyes were transfixed in utter horror on his boots as he walked, each step bringing him closer and closer.

In the very moment the man's massive frame reached the threshold, the door Maka had left open was slammed in his face from the outside, blocking his way. The blonde blinked in shock – the Death God was now standing in front of the closed door, the clear moonlight reflecting sinisterly in his golden eyes.

Why was _he_ here? Was this some sort of nightmare where all the monsters were coming after her? She unconsciously wanted to scream, but nothing more than a coarse whimper left her frozen lips. And now the shinigami was drawing closer too, if she didn't move he would grab her any moment now. At last, Maka forced her cold numbed feet to move and she ran, icy snowflakes blinding her, towards the Temple doors, hoping to find shelter by locking herself inside.

She ran against the wind, breathlessly, her worn boots slipping and making every step treacherous. The girl hadn't advanced much when suddenly her left leg twisted and gave in, making her collapse onto the ground, her body colliding painfully with the stone floor. _Ahhhh, no! God, please, no!_ Tears sprang from her eyes at the sharp pain shooting through her ankle, yet she propped herself onto her already badly scraped palms and crawled away from the dark shadow drawing closer and closer.

It was too late, the Death God's black frame was already blocking the way towards the Temple and Maka had no choice but to pull away until her back hit the terrace railing. With one last effort, ignoring the pain of her injured foot, the blonde hauled herself up, grabbing the edge and attempted to climb it. The shinigami's arms caught her just as she was trying to straddle it, pulling her back and away from the abyss below. Tears trickling freely down her cheeks now, she trashed and kicked wildly, even trying to scream, but his hand quickly covered her mouth.

"Maka, stop! Please, stop it!" the Death God pleaded, his voice much softer now and having lost the impersonal coldness from earlier. It was almost… pleasant, soothing even. And how did he know her name? "I'll let you go if you promise not to scream or try anything stupid again. Please…"

She nodded, easing her grip onto his arm as he removed his hand, gently putting her down. A sharp pain shot through the blonde's ankle as her foot touched the ground once more and Maka nearly fell, letting out a faint cry.

"Let's get you inside, you must be cold," the Death God offered, scooping her in his arms with unexpected care. Involuntarily, Maka clutched at his black clad shoulder, not knowing, not understanding why he was being so gentle all the sudden. The girl's weary mind barely registered his movements as he seemed to glide soundlessly, like a shadow. Lightly pushing the door open with his foot, the shinigami carried her inside the Temple, under the only two torches still burning above the basin of Black Water.

"You don't remember anything, do you?" the boy asked with a hint of sadness in his voice, laying her down on the floor and removing his cloak to wrap it around her shivering form. "You don't remember me…"

Maka sniffed, pulling the strangely soft cloth around her body tighter. _No, I certainly don't remember_ him _…_ But had she ever known him in the first place? How could she have known a Death God, when they were such eerie beings, meant only for the eyes and ears of the dying ones? The blonde observed cautiously as the boy ran his pale, slender fingers through his now damp, peculiarly colored strands of hair.

"No, I…" she began hesitantly, "Actually I only remember my name, my age and… that's about it. But I know, _I am sure_ that I did not spend my whole life in this place!"

"Of course you didn't," the young shinigami agreed, with somewhat of a wry smile. Well, at least she assumed he was young, because his looks could have very well been deceiving. She'd been told that the Death Gods were immortal, so maybe they didn't age either? "In fact, it couldn't have been more than a few months," he went on. "I remember that-"

"It was spring! Or summer, right?" Maka interrupted, unable to refrain herself. "Because there were white flowers in the trees and-" She nearly felt like slapping herself when the boy gave her a strange look, his golden eyes blinking, startled. "Anyway, why… um… why did you bring me here?"

"Actually, only now I happened to discover that you were here as well. I didn't think… But since I've found you, I might as well try to restore _your_ memory as well." He moved closer and the blonde involuntarily pulled back, away from his outstretched hand she knew to be cold as ice.

"Maka, please, I won't hurt you," the shinigami pleaded. "And we don't have much time for this"

"You know my name but I don't know yours!" she defended immediately, still shrugging away from his touch. Wait, did Death Gods even have names? No matter… "And we don't have time for _what_?" But he moved forward, faster than Maka could avoid this time and pressed his hand onto her forehead. Something like a dull ache spread in her skull… and then her eyelids dropped heavily as she slipped into a deep slumber.

* * *

_The Kishin's hideous body had a thousand arms, flailing around at the speed of lightning, sweeping everything in their way. Its scaled, bark-like skin was immune to their blows, not that they'd managed to deal it too many to begin with, but all three meisters continued to attack it relentlessly. The creature had mocked them at first with taunting words, but now it was tiring of the game, it would see it done soon, Maka realised. Fine with her, she wanted to put an end to it as well, so she gathered all her strength for a powerful blow and…_

_She didn't even know what had happened, but suddenly one of the arms caught her, wrapping itself crushingly around her body, immobilizing her arms as another arm tore Soul out of her hand. The pain was horrible as she struggled to breathe and Maka could almost hear her bones crack. The blonde was convinced she was going to die like this, constricted, there was no escape._

_But then the young meister was suddenly released as the arm threw her away, upwards into some hole mysteriously opened in the ominous clouds, and she flew helplessly through something like a corridor of thick smoke… and then there was nothing but darkness._

Maka woke up with a start, realising she had slept for some time, for her body was still lying on the ground, her head awkwardly cushioned in the young shinigami's lap. His golden eyes glanced down at her full of concern as she gasped. Suddenly self-conscious, now that she remembered everything, the meister sat up abruptly and rapidly pulled away from him.

"Kid?"


	3. Chapter 3

Maka fidgeted, her hands fisted in the black cloak wrapped around her. There were so many things she wanted to ask Kid, now that she'd found him and her memories were back, but she couldn't decide what to ask first. Her head was a mess under the overwhelming wave of uncertainty and mixed emotions, but the pain in her ankle brought her back to the current matters and the blonde hissed, drawing the boy's attention.

"Your ankle is probably strained, let me have a look," Kid offered, once more moving closer to her. He gently picked up her injured leg and placed it across his lap, proceeding to feel the area just above her boot.

"Ahhhhh!" she hissed even louder, scowling, because she was cold already and the shinigami's icy fingers weren't helping at all. What the hell was Kid doing here anyway? And he'd acted so strange before… giving her one hell of a fright too.

"It wouldn't have killed you to help me earlier, when the Brother had grabbed me. I was so scared, you know!" she burst out, frowning even more. Maka realised she was so angry all the sudden – all this time wasted, all the horror she'd suffered not knowing who she was or where she'd come from, thinking she was all alone in this cruel world. And now that she remembered everything, she was still stuck in this damned place, with no way out. If anything, this was even worse.

Kid flinched at the sound of her harsh words, looking up suddenly, uncomfortable. "Maka, there are many things I must explain, but for a start no one can find out that you have regained your memory, or that we know each other. I mean it, it's very dangerous. And besides, how could I have helped you when you were so scared of me in the first place?"

The blonde's frown melted and her face dropped, realising that probably the reaper had been offended by her behavior. "I wasn't…" She couldn't deny it though, she had been scared – to the point that she was going to jump over the railing just to escape him - but he _was_ a Death God. And for everyone who wasn't a student of Shibusen or working for them, shinigamis were to be dreaded. "I mean, I…"

"It's alright, you don't have to apologize, after all you didn't remember me," Kid said softly, still focused on her ankle, "And I suppose I am rather scary… it can't be helped," he added with a wry smile, still not meeting her gaze.

Maka blinked, how could he say that? To be honest, the first time she'd laid eyes on him while being her new ignorant self she'd genuinely thought he was beautiful, a bit on the bizarre side, but still… And it was strange, because back at the school - used as she was as a meister with all kinds of things regular people never even dreamed existed in this world - she had never thought much of him, even if they were friends.

"No, Kid! You're not scary, I mean it! Just…"

"Just creepy," he supplied, letting go of her leg. "I think if you apply some ice it will be alright in no time"

 _Why the hell am I debating his degree of scariness or lack thereof now? And I had nothing better to do than pick on him! Damn it, I need to clear my head…_ Maka inwardly scolded herself. Shifting her gaze, embarrassed by her own weirdness – and this really was a bad time to make things weird - she encountered her own reflection in the Black Water basin. Since there were no mirrors around, she hadn't had the chance to look at herself in a while, and now she very nearly drew back in terror. Her own face was horribly pale and she had become much thinner, the skin tighter on her cheekbones, while her once bright green eyes were now two hollow, haunted orbs of some indefinite dark shade. Her honey colored hair was hanging around her face, tangled and not particularly clean, while her dress was nothing more than an ugly grey rag. She was one to talk about creepy, the meister thought bitterly, suddenly feeling ashamed of her own appearance as well.

"So… what happened to us anyway?" the blonde asked at last, scrubbing a trembling hand over her face. "Did the Kishin send us here?"

Kid had pulled his knees to his chest and stared at his boots with an air of genuine helplessness, but at least he looked vaguely relieved by the change of subject. "I think so. There is no other explanation. He must have plunged us into another space, one we were sure not to come back from anytime soon… I also think that it was its intention to plunge each of us into a different place and the memory loss was meant to complicate things further. That being said, the fact that you and me ended up in the same place is probably a mere coincidence…"

_Then Soul and the others… there's no way of knowing where they are and if they're okay…_

"You wouldn't know what happened to Soul, would you?" she asked nevertheless, the hopeless words stubbornly leaving her lips despite herself since she could already guess the answer. And there she was, asking a seemingly useless question, ignoring the fact that at least Kid was with her now, she wasn't completely alone. The least she could have done was to ask whether _he_ was alright. He looked alright though…

"I'm sorry, Maka, I have no idea"

"Liz and Patty?"

The young shinigami shook his head. Maka dug her fingers into her forehead, feeling the headache return. What she was discovering was bringing her nothing but chagrin, but still she had to know everything. It was always better to face the truth than wallow in ignorance.

"Tell me everything, Kid," the young meister said determined. "Why did you say it would be dangerous if they discovered that we know each other? What is going on?"

"I suppose that aside from the Brothers and Sisters, you've only seen the one they call the Older One, right?" the shinigami asked. "You've never heard of _The Three_ , did you?" Maka shook her head no. "I don't know _what_ they are, but they run the Temple. When I found myself in this place the first time, I was taken before them. All they said was that one can never have too many Death Gods around and that I would serve here at the Temple for the rest of my days. Obviously, I demanded an explanation and tried to… to object to it. Long story short, that was quite a bad idea. They are evil and very dangerous, that's why we must avoid crossing them in any way, at least for now"

Whatever it was, Kid seemed reluctant to speak about it and the blonde had a feeling he wasn't telling her everything, as she'd asked. Maka still had a lot of questions, but she thought better than to push the reaper for now. The meister reasoned that her classmate wouldn't have been concealing something unless it was best to do so for the moment. As much as she usually preferred to be in control and aware of things, she trusted his judgment.

"Maka, you should go back to your room now, I don't think that Brother will stay out cold for too long"

* * *

 _The Brother!_ Maka thought of the man with cunning eyes and crooked, sharp teethed grin with dread, a cold shudder running down her spine. Could it be that he was still lying there, in the doorway? And could she get past him to reach the safety of her own room? Just as she was thinking of it, there was a sudden noise outside the Temple doors, like a claw raking on the wood. The blonde gasped, freezing in mid-turn. And then there was the familiar creak of the door opening, followed by a cold draft making its way inside the large hall.

"Damn, he's already here, come on! He mustn't see us!" Kid whispered, suddenly alert. Maka struggled to haul herself up, but she could barely stand on the leg, let alone walk, or run. The reaper moved lightning fast, scooping her in his arms. They quickly hid inside one of the dark, stone alcoves, ducking beneath a carved arch.

Something like a muffled gurgle resounded in the empty space, steadily growing into a throaty chuckle which was unmistakable . Maka's fingers dug into Kid's shoulder in anguish as he held her close, both of them pressed against the cold, damp cave wall. The steps resounded clearly now, drawing closer to the place they were hidden.

"Damn it, if it weren't for my leg, I could have taken him on, the bastard!" the blonde hissed. Having regained her memories, the young meister had also remembered how strong and combat skilled she really was. Thinking about it rationally, she could have probably kept the Brother at bay, despite his massiveness.

"Absolutely not, don't even think of it!" the shinigami replied, his grip tightening around her. "There he comes, we need to distract him somehow…"

It was quite dark, yet the Brother's large shadow was visible and stretching onto the floor as the man advanced carefully. "Come out, come out, I know you're in here somewhere, little Maka…" he drawled, in a voice that held the promise of infinite horror. The blonde heard Kid let out a muffled groan, before he crouched and threw something across the large space between the alcoves, towards the back of the cave, the object producing a faint clatter as it hit the ground. The Brother halted for a split second, then his footsteps were clearly heard as he hurried in the direction of the sound, chuckling sinisterly.

"Let's go, now!" the reaper whispered and they rapidly slipped out of the niche, crept behind their pursuer's back and darted out of the Temple. Outside the snowfall had ceased to some extent, but it was still freezing cold. They hurried towards the door leading into the habitation area, but found it had been locked.

"Ahhhh, that bastard probably has the keys and he's locked it on purpose! He's going to catch us now, we've nowhere to go!" Maka whimpered, hugging herself, but Kid simply kicked it open with his boot, loudly cracking the ancient board around the lock and causing splinters to fly everywhere.

"Hurry back to your room, before he gets here!" he urged. "Lock the door and you'll be safe"

"Kid, wait! When will we-"

But the boy pushed her inside and very nearly slammed the door back in her face. The blonde meister was left staring at the hard wood, while her ears could not catch any sound on the other side. She had no time to lose, that much was clear, so she started towards her room, limping awfully. Every step was torture under the pressure, but Maka gritted her teeth and endured the pain. Despite everything, the strength which had returned together with her memories was comforting to some extent. She would have to keep it carefully concealed not to arouse any suspicions, as her classmate had advised, she would still have to play the meek and scaredy girl, but at least… there was some hope now. Or was there really? Maka inwardly debated – for one part of her wanted to be hopeful, to believe that there was an escape possible, a way out of this accursed realm of darkness, silence and death – but then… Kid hadn't looked very hopeful himself, and yet what had he to fear? He was a Death God, after all.

* * *

After quite an amount of toil, she made it back to her room and scrambled inside, carefully locking the door behind her. As usual, it was pitch dark, but the blonde had learned her way around a while ago and she kept her few things in order. Striking a matching and lighting the candle bud near her makeshift bed, Maka finally allowed herself a deep breath of momentary relief, as the tiny warm glow conquered the obscurity. Only then she noticed that she was still wearing Kid's shinigami cloak. _Damn it!_

Panicked, the girl hurried to peel it off _,_ frantically thinking of a place to hide it. She had no doubt that her things could be searched at any moment by the other Sisters, since they 'lived as a family' and shared everything. But her fingers involuntarily curled into the soft fabric and Maka found herself clutching the black bundle at her chest, burying her nose in it. It was cold and damp, bits of snow still melting into the folds, and it smelled faintly of smoke and the incenses the pilgrims sometimes brought to the Temple. And it was the only palpable proof that she had not been hallucinating all along. But she was very tired, her body and mind exhausted by the recent events. The blonde kicked off her boots in haste, slipping under the covers with the cloak still in her arms before she blew off the candle.

 _Tomorrow, I will think of everything tomorrow, after I have had a bit of rest_ , she mentally repeated herself, seeking to calm the buzzing of her thoughts. The Brother must have been furious now, but he wasn't going to try anything as long as there were others around – she only had to be careful not to remain alone with him again. He would be on the prowl and she would have to be very careful about it, but it was doable, the young meister hoped. There were _some_ rules which he had to obey, after all. As for the cloak, it had to be returned to its owner, the sooner the better, provided that Kid would show up again anytime in the near future. Speaking of whom…

 _Oh no!_ The blonde sat up abruptly, stricken by a sudden terrifying realization. Back in the cave, Kid must have thrown one of his rings to distract the Brother. _I must find it, before anyone else does!_ That, if the Brother hadn't found it already... That was her last thought before sleep finally, mercifully took her.


	4. Chapter 4

"I shall ask but once now and the guilty one had better stand up and admit it, because I will find out the truth anyway, eventually. You know I always do," the Older One spoke, calmly but with a clear hint of menace, his dark gaze scrutinizing the figures more or less slumped over the morning table. "Who broke the door?"

Maka had known this was coming. She stared determinedly into her bowl of stew, hand clenched on the spoon and lips pressed tightly. The Brother sat across from her, blatantly toying with his piece of bread. He was undoubtedly trying to be intimidating, but as long as he remained silent everything would be fine, the meister thought. How could the Older One discover the culprit if no one talked? She was innocent anyway and even if he did… Kid was a _Death God_ , after all. What could they possibly do to him, just for breaking some shitty door?

"No one speaks, I see…" the Older One concluded after a while, breaking the tensioned silence floating around the table. "You have been warned, may Death have mercy on you when I find out who did this..."

* * *

The blonde left the table as soon as she could and hurried to the kitchen to collect the bread loafs left for the old beggar. Maka hoped that this time the woman would be silent, the last thing she needed was for the beggar to make another fuss because of her. She grabbed the leftovers and stuffed them in her pocket, her heart already beginning to pound with the adrenaline of the upcoming task. It was crucial that she got into the Temple before the other Brothers and Sisters. Good thing that at least the pain in her leg had mostly subsided during her sleep.

More snow had fallen during the night, covering the outer terrace with a soft carpet, a single trail of steps dotting the white surface, along with the black frame of the woman, who had already occupied her usual place below the railing. It furtively crossed the meister's mind that she had not seen her anywhere the previous night, which meant she must have had a shelter somewhere. It was a comforting thought, because the clear air was absolutely freezing, Maka's breath coming out in small clouds of steam as she stepped outside. The shinigami cloak was securely stuffed under her dress and around her body, keeping her warm to some extent and right then she wished she did not have to return it to its rightful owner.

Rubbing her hands to keep them from freezing, the blonde quickly stooped and placed the bread into the woman's lap, relieved to observe that her gaze wandered somewhere past the meister's shoulder, into the grayish blur that was the winter sky. Her bony features seemed carved in stone, as she sat without moving, without as much as blinking. Thankfully, this seemed to be one of her quiet days.

"It is love," the beggar said simply, just as Maka had stood up and was preparing to walk away. The meister knew that she should have ignored her – she wasn't supposed to talk to this woman, just as she wasn't supposed to talk to anyone – and it would be a bad idea if she did. It had been the last time and the last thing she needed was to draw even more attention onto herself.

"What is?" she asked nevertheless, despite herself, halting her movement. The wind blew over the two of them, icy and biting, sweeping away the snow in its path, like a harsh breath of despair. _Love?_ The word sounded so foreign, so abstract in this accursed realm.

"The reason why I'm here, why I will be here until the day they burn these old bones," the woman spoke, her voice soft and clear. "I have no choice but to wait for him…" she added, shifting her gaze towards the massive Temple doors. Maka felt a pang of pain in her chest at the words, this was much too cruel. Could it be that the beggar did not really know the truth about the Temple? Wasn't she aware that those walking past those doors would never get out? Or was it that madness had made her deny the horrible truth, blessing her with this futile sort of hope? The blonde didn't know what to say to this, or whether it was her place to say anything at all.

"I know what you think," the old woman interrupted her thoughts. "You think my husband is dead and I'm waiting here for nothing, don't you? But you are too kind to say it out loud…"

Maka threw a glance towards the habitations area, the Brothers and Sisters would come out soon and she really ought to waste no more time. But it was strange and intriguing to discover that maybe the only human being around who was willing to talk to her wasn't that insane after all.

"You should not worry about me, young girl. The one who has given me the kiss of life cannot die, even you should know as much. Death Gods don't die"

The meister shook her head, then turned and padded hurriedly towards the large doors, as fast as her still aching ankle would allow it. _I guess she is crazy after all… How could she claim to be_ married _to a Death God? That's completely wacked!_ Maka decided not to dwell on the subject any longer, she had things to do before it would start going really bad.

She squinted in the darkness of the cave, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the semi-obscurity before retracing their steps from the previous night. Here was the alcove where they'd hidden from the Brother and then… where could the ring have rolled off to? Maka made an effort to remember what she had seen, except she hadn't seen very much at the time, barely their pursuer's figure moving away from them. The meister carefully retraced what she thought had been his path, there weren't that many options anyway – the ring, if _he_ hadn't found it already, must have ended up into one of the alcoves in the back of the hall.

"Damn it!" the blonde grumbled, she was supposed to save the candle enough to last her for the whole day, which pretty much meant groping in the dark most of the time anyway and there she was, forced to waste it on this stupid search. Kneeling onto the hard stone floor, Maka directed the flame onto the blackened slabs, searching for the jewel. _Stupid Kid! Couldn't he just throw a button or something else?!_ But no, it had to be the ring, because nothing else would have made that noise she'd heard.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it! Oh, by Death, it's nowhere!" the blonde whimpered silently, crawling to the last alcove, still empty handed. _Let's calm down now, let's calm down! Even if the Brother has found the ring, so what? He can't put two and two together, can he? Or maybe he can, but there simply isn't enough proof… of anything. And he cannot tell the Older One anything without proof, can he?_ Maka tried to convince herself, despite the cold sweat already covering her brow. The candle bud she'd received after breakfast had almost burned out – she'd be as good as blind for the rest of the day – but she still searched the cramped space and suddenly there it was, a pale gleam of silver under the bed, right on the edge of the crevice leading all the way down to the burning pit. It was sheer luck it had stopped there.

Maka had a sudden sense of victory as she crammed herself into the narrow space and her fingers closed around the small treasure. _Phew!_ She had worried for nothing _,_ how could the Brother have found it with no light at all? And massive as he was, he probably couldn't reach under the bed anyway, she told herself, stretching her aching back and running her thumb over the tiny skull ornament. But sad thoughts overwhelmed her upon looking at the familiar emblem, thoughts of her friends, of her school, of her _home_. _Will we ever get back there? Will I ever get to see Papa again? And my friends?_

The sound of several pairs of footsteps alerted Maka of the arrival of the first pilgrims for the day - pulling her from her musings – and she stood up quickly, sniffing. Only then she realised she'd been crying, her cheeks were soaked with already cooling tears which she hurried to wipe with the back of her rough sleeve. But what to do with the ring? The pockets of her dress were too large, it wasn't safe to put it there - she could lose it only too easy – and she only had her pockets for a hideout. The blonde glanced down at her own hands, pale and worked, with dirty nails she'd occasionally chewed on. _No one would look at them, I guess…_ Without further debate, she slipped Kid's ring onto her middle finger, just as he wore it. It was a perfect fit.

* * *

It had turned out to be a horribly long day, followed by a few more, equally long and horrible days, with no sign from the young shinigami. Maka'd had to be careful to hide her left hand every time someone passed her by (she had been forced to take the ring out when sitting at the common table though, where it could have been spotted with ease by any of the Brothers and Sisters) and the damned ring was pulling at her hand in an oddly fashion, for she wasn't much used to wearing jewels and she'd never wore a ring before. The constant need to tweak her fingers was extremely annoying.

On top of everything, her thoughts constantly wandered back to the bits of information Kid had revealed during their encounter – who and _what_ were The Three? And did they have anything to do with the Kishin who had sent them here? And if they really were so dangerous… The Older One had not mentioned the door incident again, nor had he asked any more questions, which was quite odd. Nobody had been punished either – the blonde would have known, since usually the guilty one was made an example of – which could only mean that he hadn't discovered the truth. _No, maybe the Older One has not discovered the culprit, but what if The Three found out?_ Kid had reluctantly mentioned that 'objecting' to being held here had proven a bad idea, did that mean they had punished him then? _What if they punished him again this time? Maybe that's why he's not coming…_

This fruitless wait was exasperating. Of course, Maka saw Death Gods everyday at the Temple, actually more like catching a glimpse of them as they came and quickly looking away, because beholding them directly was forbidden, but even if she had looked more carefully it would have still been of no use – shrouded in their black cloaks and with their white bone masks on they all looked exactly the same. There was no telling which one of them was Kid, or if he was among them in the first place.

But he had been outside that night, Maka didn't know why, clearly there was no way he could have known that she would come out too, their meeting had been a coincidence. Thus, the blonde thought that if she wanted to find him, most likely she would have to go to the Temple at night again. Now that was quite a daunting and risky prospect, she could very well meet the Brother instead, or even worse, the Older One. But she had no choice, she had to try.

Soundlessly cracking open the door of her room, Maka tried to use soul perception to see if there was anyone around. Yet with so many souls crammed together in the relatively small space which was the habitations area it was difficult, while the mad pounding of her own heart made it hard for her to focus. It seemed new habits died just as hard as the old ones, after all. But there was no one lurking in the darkness of the narrow corridor and she eventually crept out of her room, sliding along the wall almost holding her breath.

The main door had still not been repaired – there was a rather large piece of it missing where the lock had been – and now it hardly closed at all, shaking in the rusty hinges at each stronger gale of wind. At least the meister couldn't find herself locked on the outside again, later. Maka slipped out, pulling her dress around her body tighter and instantly cursing the vicious weather. The cold made her ankle hurt again, but she ignored the pain, hurrying towards the Temple doors. These were never locked, so she just made her way inside, as quietly as possible. She stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her, the blonde's breath hitching in her throat.

Kid was there, but he didn't seem to notice her presence at all. He had kneeled in front of the Black Water basin with a cup in his hand and proceeded to fill it to the brim. The other meister watched in a terrified sort of fascination as the young shinigami brought it to his lips and downed the contents in one long gulp. Almost instantly he collapsed backwards, the cup rolling down from his hand and onto the tiles with a startling clatter which brought Maka to her senses.

 _No!_ she mouthed silently, running and kneeling next to his fallen body. The reaper did not seem to be breathing and in the dim light the blonde was under the impression that the white lines in his hair had somewhat faded. "No! Kid, no! Please, no!" Maka whimpered, her eyes instantly filling with tears, as she clutched desperately at the front of his cloak, trying to shake him awake. Suddenly, a wave of fury washed over her and she backhanded him across the face with all her strength. "You bastard! You want to leave me here, all alone!" the blonde yelled.

A groan escaped the young shinigami's lips and, agonizingly slow, his eyes fluttered open. With a bit of struggle, Kid managed to prop himself up on his elbows, blinking sleepily, obviously surprised to see her there, hovering above him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, YOU IDIOT?!" Maka shouted, but the reaper caught her wrist before she could hit him again. "And you've tried this before, haven't you? The first time I saw you…" she asked, doing her best to wipe her tears with her free hand. "Tried to kill yourself, just like everyone else! And what am I supposed to do, huh? What the hell am I supposed to do?" The meister's tone had faded again to a strained whimper and she gulped, trying to swallow the knot of tears in her throat.

"Maka, the Black Water is poison for humans, but it won't kill _me_. It just numbs me, like… a sedative of sorts," Kid explained, his voice drowsy with sleep, pressing his slapped cheek with one hand, while the other still held her wrist captive. The blonde frowned – why the hell did he need that? What sort of explanation was this? She began to feel genuinely frightened now, what had this place done to her classmate? And what else was he hiding?

"But why do you need to… be numbed? Isn't that like a drug or something?"

The shinigami released her arm and buried his face in his hands. "I wish you hadn't seen me like this…" He sounded ashamed, defeated even and only now the blonde noticed that his left hand was bandaged with a rag. "But I have to… to stop feeling anything in order to be able to do the work required of me here. I couldn't otherwise, it's just too much… You have been blessed until now to revert to an ordinary human state, returning your memories has only made things worse for you, much more painful"

" _What_?"

But it was true – ever since she had regained her memories and abilities as a meister, not once she had tried to see… _No, I did not want to know, I_ did not _want to see all the souls of the people dying here every single day…_ But Maka couldn't actually see the souls, not even if she tried now, she could only feel the poisonous imprint they'd left behind, looming like a growing, ever developing shadow, suddenly overwhelming her perception. _It is too much, too much!_ The pain spread from her chest all over, into every single fiber of her body and Maka couldn't fight back the scream erupting from her throat.


	5. Chapter 5

Green eyes blinked slowly, gradually adjusting to the darkness around her. Maka realized she must have passed out again, for she felt worn, utterly exhausted. The pain from earlier had left a tremor in her muscles, a weakness she could not shake off and the blonde vaguely remembered that it had been something Kid had said… _But what? Something about the souls, it was something about the souls…_

"Maka, you will have to block your soul perception completely for now. Seal it shut!"

"But, Kid…"

"You must, or it will drive you mad," the young reaper said gently, helping her up to her feet. At least he looked sober now, that sickly drowsiness from earlier gone from his eyes. All the sudden it was incredibly quiet and the blonde meister glanced around in confusion, unable to understand what had happened to her. _But do I really want to know? Maybe it's better if_ _I don't think about it anymore, at least for now…_

"Kid, I was waiting for a sign from you these days, I thought we were going to meet up somehow," Maka began, willing to change the subject and still wondering why the shinigami was being so weird – she was still rather shocked after seeing him drink the Black Water and pass out like that. Just what the hell was he not telling her? "But you never showed up so I thought… I was worried, okay? Besides, the Older One is investigating on who broke the door of the habitations area…"

The reaper shrugged. "I don't think that's going to be a problem, there's no way he can find out what happened. But I had to be careful afterwards, that Brother got too close to discovering us the last time and I'm sure there still are some things he's wondering about. I thought of keeping a low profile for now, since… well…"

"Well?"

"I managed to contact my father by dialing his number into a puddle, if you can believe that, heh…" Kid said with an awkward smile. "But-"

"What? Seriously?" Maka interrupted, gripping his shoulders enthusiastically and feeling a bit of hope for the first time. "You talked to Lord Death? What did he say? What-…what do we have to do to get out of this place?" the blonde asked, searching his eyes, but the shinigami let his gaze drop to the floor in reply.

"Actually, he wasn't even aware that Temples of Death still exist, from what he knew they'd all disappeared a very long time ago. As such, he has absolutely no idea who The Three might be, but it's clear that as long as they keep us in their grasp – and it's quite a tight one if you haven't noticed – we'll never be able to leave. We must defeat them somehow, but that's… well… rather far-fetched if we don't even know _what_ they are. I for one wasn't able to see their souls, that if they have any souls to begin with. My father promised to look into it and I'll have to contact him again, but I think it will take some time."

She nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. She had to be strong and remain patient, even if the blonde for one did not have that much time left. _Barely over two months now before I 'come of age'…_ But Kid looked troubled enough as it was, there was no way she could tell him about her impending marriage. What could he have done about it anyway? It was inconceivable, the meister refused as much as to think of it. Maka chose to shove the matter away from her thoughts for the moment.

"Do you know if… Lord Death has found out anything about the others? Has anyone managed to come back yet?" she asked instead. But the shinigami shook his head and the blonde's stomach cringed painfully, her spirits utterly crushed. She simply wanted to slump to the floor and lay there like a dead thing. But she could not, not while there was still some strength left in her. And she had to know more.

"Kid… you can't summon Beelzebub anymore, can you?" she guessed, her gaze darting towards his bandaged hand. As gently as she could, the other meister took hold of the pale appendage, running her thumb soothingly over the dirty rag. "Care to tell me what happened to your hand?" she whispered, still looking at his hand and not up at his face, because she didn't want to see the pain dwelling in his golden orbs.

"No, they mostly restricted my use of magic, unfortunately, but nothing really happened to my hand. Actually, nothing you would call 'serious'…" The young reaper pulled his hand from hers and unwrapped the piece of cloth, revealing the absence of any visible wound. The skin was flawless, unscathed.

 _Oh… I see…_ Maka figured with a scowl. Of course, Kid probably couldn't stand to see the _asymmetry_ caused by having only one ring left so he'd bandaged his whole hand because of that. For the briefest moment, the blonde felt an impulse to slap him again, really hard, for making her worry over nothing, before she realised that the missing ring was still on _her_ finger. A wave of heat rushed to her cheeks upon that thought and she could only hope the shinigami would not notice it.

"Oh, I-I'm sorry… I managed to find this the other day. It had very nearly rolled into a burning pit…" she said, holding up her own hand and hurrying to take off the jewel. She shouldn't have put it on, Maka thought, noticing the peculiar way in which Kid observed how the silver piece hugged her own tiny finger. It was hard to believe that this was actually _his_ ring, she'd never realised he had such delicate fingers himself. "Y-you really should throw something less important next time," the blonde stuttered, uncomfortable.

"You really looked for it, then? Thank you!" Kid couldn't help looking genuinely relieved for having it back and the symmetry of his hands restored once again, yet in the same time he seemed oddly surprised that she'd bothered to do something like this for him in the first place. Maka hurried to pull the black cloak from under her dress as well and give it back to him – as reluctant as she may have been of parting with the additional clothing item the meister knew it would sooner or later prove a bad idea if she kept anything she wasn't supposed to have.

"Well, then… now that we solved this problem, I suppose we have no choice but to wa-"

The words died on her lips as the blonde noticed the young shinigami's eyes widening suddenly. Kid was staring at something past her shoulder, a dark, massive figure reflecting into his enlarged pupils in the dim torchlight. _The Brother. He followed me here… And now what?_ Her ankle was better, but could she take him on this time? Could they take him on? Probably yes, but really, then what? The Brother had seen them together this time, he was going to tell the Older One and then undoubtedly they'd force the truth out of her. Maka squeezed her eyes shut, a pang of terror shooting through her chest making it hard to breathe.

"Maka, I'm afraid that this time we'll have to get rid of him," Kid said coldly and the blonde flinched. _Get rid…?_ But he was human and he wasn't even a kishin egg, his soul wasn't on Lord Death's list. They couldn't possibly kill him! No, no, what was Kid saying?

"There he comes, stand aside!" the young reaper said, pushing her lightly and stepping in front of her. Confronted with such a dismal outcome, Maka half wished that the Brother would turn on his heels and run away, but her pursuer wasn't put off by the sight of Kid in the least. Indeed his gaze seemed to shy away from the reaper, seeking her instead, but his step was steady and his rough features determined, while his gruesome mouth was almost curled into a grin. He thought himself victorious, having trapped her at last, the blonde realised.

"I see now why you'd shy away from me, Maka Albarn," he spat, disdain seeping from his tone, "You've got yourself a lover, haven't you? Are you the Death God's whore now? I should have known, the first time you _dared look_ at him, so shamelessly!"

The meister literally cowered behind Kid, feeling like she'd been slapped. All she could think of was what the Older One would do to her when he found out about this. She almost contemplated confirming the Brother's suspicion and maybe if she did they would not consider making her a wife anymore. But there would be punishment, that much was for sure…

"There's no point in hiding now, he won't save you. Death Gods don't save anyone, you foolish girl, they just give you their embrace, one way or the other…" The Brother stepped closer, continuing to advance until Kid's palm pushed against his chest, halting his movement.

"Are you really seeking a quarrel with me, _mortal_?" the shinigami asked, his voice still soft but horribly poisonous in the same time. There was a terror-striking, sinister power concealed under his apparently fragile form, Maka realised, a deep darkness which must have dwelled within all reapers, one which she had not come to know and dread until now. And she was suddenly very afraid of Kid, even more than she'd been the night before regaining her memory. Could it have been lying dormant all this time within him, only to have been awakened now by the Black Water? Now the blonde really wanted the Brother to run, as much as she dreaded and loathed him, she wanted him to run, get away from there before something absolutely horrible would happen.

Alas, the man had no such intention. "If you would stoop so low as to put yourself between me and this wretched human girl, then you are no true Death God! I deny you!" he spat, this time facing his opponent directly, without fear.

The young reaper tilted his head a bit to the side, as if in genuine curiosity, while a half-smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "So… it seems you _are_ seeking a quarrel with me…"

Maka couldn't take it anymore, whatever was going to happen, whatever _had_ to happen, she did not want to witness it. Slipping abruptly from behind her friend's shielding frame, the meister darted towards the door, wishing nothing more than to escape that appalling moment. But she did not take more than a few steps before the Brother's hand captured her upper arm, bony fingers with long, sharp talons for nails shooting out from his large sleeve. Maka struggled, desperate to free herself from the man's grip, and screamed when the talons pierced the rough fabric of her garment, digging into her very flesh. The blonde viciously slammed her boot into the side of the stout body, so hard that she expected to hear ribs crack at the impact. But it did not happen and the Brother only let out a short, rasped laughter, his grip tightening as he pulled her closer. Maka's face was brutally stuffed into the folds of his robe, suffocating her. _He's going to kill me! By Death, he's going to kill me!_ the meister thought frantically, continuing to kick him and drive the fist of her free hand into the man's jaw. But he was like made of iron - didn't even budge – and when his other clawed hand fisted in her hair, pulling her head backwards at an impossible angle, Maka knew the battle was lost.

" _I am a God of Death and I will now give you my embrace. May the peaceful darkness of death soothe the agony of your life on this earth_!" The sinister fingers gradually began easing their grip on her pale strands of hair and Maka was finally able to draw a breath, feeling her chest expanding with momentary relief. " _May the deathly winter conquer the scorching summer which was your time among the living and bring the ease of your pain…_ " The blonde had heard those words countless times, whispered gently by unseen lips in the darkness of the alcoves, meant only for the ears of those about to depart from this world. And now the Brother was dead too, his massive frame slumping to the ground in one fluid motion, collapsing over his prey and bringing her down with him in a heap on the floor.

* * *

"What is madness? What makes this beast stir into the minds and the hearts of innocents?" The Older One had slammed his fists onto the cracked wood of the long dining table, upsetting the simple iron cutlery and the clay bowls of the Brothers and Sisters before him. "I shall tell you, _madness_ is the ultimate refusal of rules, the absolute defiance of what it is that one must obey in life!"

Maka struggled to follow his words, although her vision was almost blurred by the pounding ache in her skull. She barely had any recollection of how the previous night had ended, or how she'd made it back to her room. Of how she'd ran from the Temple, unwilling to spare as much as a single glance back, of how she'd washed her own blood away from her tainted dress and sewed the cuts, or of how she'd cleaned and bandaged the wound in her upper arm. It had all faded to a painful blur, mostly from the shock of finding herself so helpless against an attacker for the first time. And he would probably have finished her off if… but no, the awful truth remained etched into her mind – Kid, her classmate, her friend, _had killed a man_. A man who, well, she couldn't call innocent anymore, not after he'd tried to kill her, but still, he wasn't on the list. Surely the reaper could have knocked him unconscious, or have his memory erased or something (since he'd been able to restore hers). But no, Brother Elgar – she'd heard his name today for the first time – was dead, for his corpse had been discovered lying on the slope below the Temple courtyard, crushed against the jagged rocks.

"And why is it that you should succumb to madness, I ask you!?" the Older One went on, furiously."Does the Temple not give you everything you need? Do you not have clothes on your backs and food on your plates? Do you not have a place to lay your head, out of the cold? And still you seek to take what is not yours to take! Death is a gift our merciful masters make to those unfortunate, stricken by a cruel fate, but you are the servants of Death! This gift shall be made to you as well, precisely when your time comes and the masters will it and not a moment sooner! It is not yours to take as you please, as that fool Elgar thought he was able, thought he was free to do! I should have seen the signs of madness in him, the destruction he's caused and all, but my eyes failed me this time. They will not do so again and anyone who attempts taking that which is not theirs to take shall feel the wrath of our masters!"


	6. Chapter 6

Days passed, bleak and grim, in a hopeless succession as winter slowly gave way to a harsh spring. Tiny, fragile leaves had sprung in the slender trees randomly grown onto the mountain slope, but the sky was still laden with ominous clouds and it would still rain almost daily in icy downpours, hailstone often sweeping mercilessly across the Temple terrace. The black curtains at the entrance hung damp and heavy over the wooden doors, ragged and putrid in places, in dire need of patching.

Maka had been woken before dawn by two Sisters for this bothersome task and there they were, all three of them, slumped on their knees onto the hard floor over the dark cloths and toiling with thick needles. The meister's fingers were hurting, bleeding and half frozen as she struggled to drive the needle through the fabric (she had always thought it to be soft silk) which was surprisingly stubborn in some places and coming off in damp, paper-like shreds in others. It was awful. The blonde would have gladly sought refuge into random thoughts, but alas her thoughts weren't helping at all. Brother Elgar had been already forgotten after a few weeks, as if he'd never existed, but Maka knew that now the Older One was ever watchful. Kid had disappeared again without a sign, but she was thankful for it this time. It would have been too dangerous for them to meet again anyway and the blonde didn't know if she would be able to face him at all. No, that bit of terror she'd gotten a glimpse of on that accursed night was forever imprinted in her memory.

All this time, pilgrims continued to arrive at the Temple, passing through the large doors on their way of no return, old and young alike, seeking to be soothed of the pains life had brought upon them. But were they indeed? Was death truly the end of all torments? It must have been, because their souls had left their painful imprint here, where she had seen it, but they had left it behind. They were free now. Maka lifted her gaze and glanced in the distance - at the barren fields stretching beneath the mountain, endless under the bluish-grey horizon – and wished she was free too.

 _Less than a month now…_ The meister silently observed the two Sisters working by her side, their bowed heads covered by black veils. Maka had not taken to studying her fellow servants of Death before so up close, in fact she had never given them much thought past the threat they obviously represented. They never talked but they were not without speech and she was sure that to the ears of the Older One those ugly lips often murmured. Their fingers may have moved implacably, without human weariness or hesitation, but their ears were open and their eyes watchful, even if they appeared to spare no glance in her direction. Their dull features were expressionless and without beauty and they both looked worn and crinkled long before their age. There was no telling their age anyway. Their cheeks were dry and bore the color of old parchment and their lips set in a thin, rough line, as if they'd never known smile. The old beggar's countenance was almost pleasant in comparison. _I will not become like them!_ Maka inwardly gritted her teeth as she frowned over her work. _I will die before they make me into one of these creatures!_ A surge of hatred coursed through her at the thought and the blonde almost had a mind to throw away her needle and shove aside the black cloth resting onto her knees.

She was mostly finished and much to her luck the Sisters suddenly decided to spare her of their company for the time being. One of them motioned for her to attend to her usual job in the Temple, while the other produced an empty copper jug from under her cloak and gave it to her to fill it for them. Maka stood up, her knees sore from having spent hours onto hard the stone tiles and hurried to the habitations area. Soon, she returned with the jug now filled to the brim with fresh, cold water and a few pieces of bread left from the breakfast she'd been forced to skip. The blonde knew she should have kept them for herself, but found that she could put nothing in her mouth now.

After placing the water jug at the Sisters' side, the meister walked up and dumped the bread into the beggar's lap. She then stopped and glanced down past the carved stone railing, at the jagged rocks dotting the abrupt mountain side all the way down. It would have been so easy… the Sisters were too far to be able to stop her. It would have been a quick, almost painless death. _'_ _Anyone who attempts taking that which is not theirs to take shall feel the wrath of our masters!'_ The blonde's mouth twisted in a bitter grin – wrath? What foolishness, it wasn't like she could be brought back and punished for taking the ultimate 'gift'. _I, Maka Albarn, will sooner die free than have you make me into a damned ghoul!_

Slowly but surely, her hands found purchase onto the cold railing and the blonde took a deep breath, steeling her will. Her eyelids fluttered closed as the wind ruffled her pale strands but suddenly Maka gasped loudly, feeling a warm hand gently, affectionately even, taking hold of her left wrist. She opened her eyes to see the old woman looking up at her with a light smile.

"Child, I have been where you stand now and I can say this one thing – death is not upon you yet"

The meister's eyes widened in surprise and doubt. The beggar had guessed her intentions and probably could not bear to see her take the fatal leap, but she was insane, what the hell was she saying? Maka sighed, now the moment was lost.

"Hurry and get back to your work, those crows are looking this way," the woman warned, letting go of her wrist. The blonde pulled away from the railing and, without a word, headed to the Temple doors.

* * *

Maka folded each piece of the man's garments neatly, carefully smoothing the creases before placing them into the basket. Her tears had dried a while ago, but the unseen stains still tugged at the skin of her cheeks. She had been silently crying all day. Once the body gone, the meister glanced down at the empty bed in the pale gleam of the candle and ran her hands over the soft black silk of the sheet and pillows. They were still warm from the life which had only just ended and the feeling it stirred was sickening. _But see, it's not hard and there's no pain…_

Taking a deep breath, the blonde laid the basket down on the floor and lowered herself to sit on the bed. _I've nothing to be afraid of… nothing to be afraid of._ Her muscles tensed as she slowly lifted her feet off the ground. She stared at her worn boots as she stretched her legs, gripping each side of the mattress with shaky hands. _This is the last thing I will ever get to do…_ Maka blew off the candle and she dropped down onto the soft pillows, closing her eyes.

It seemed like an eternity had passed before the blonde could eventually hear the curtain being pulled aside and feel the slightest rush of air as someone slipped in. Her breath hitched in her throat and her heart began pounding, absolutely wild, as if it was trying to escape her ribcage. It briefly crossed her mind that she could simply get up and run and nobody would ask anything, after all she worked here, but her body was frozen, pinning her to the accursed bed, unwilling to give up. _What's the point? I will die anyway eventually. Everybody dies. But if I run now, I will only submit myself to a life of misery and I would deserve it too, for being such a coward!_ Her pale, trembling hands fisted into the front of her dress. _Soul, Papa…forgive me…_

The Death God had stopped by the bed, hovering over her unseen. Maka could distinguish the pale gleam of the cup he was holding as he stood, unmoved, and the white of his bone mask. What was he waiting for? " _I am a God of Death and I will now give you my embrace. May the peaceful darkness of death soothe the agony of your life on this earth_ _!_ _May the deathly winter conquer the scorching summer which was your time among the living and bring the ease of your pain…_ " Such beautiful, eerie words, but he was not saying them, he was silent. The blonde panicked. Maybe there was something _she_ was supposed to say first? But she had never heard the pilgrims say anything. Or maybe there was some sort of payment required? A soft groan of frustration escaped her lips as she tried to guess what was wrong.

"Please…" she whispered, choking, as her hand reached for the cup.

"Maka, what is this? What… what do you think you're doing?"

The meister sat up abruptly and buried her face in her hands, desperate. _"…death is not upon you yet…"_ First the beggar and now Kid, from all the damned Death Gods! This was just incredible. And meeting Kid was really the last thing she needed.

"I have just as much right to make this choice as the next person," she said harshly. "I have the right to seek solace and you have the duty to give it to me," the blonde added, straightening her back.

"No." His voice was as calm and soft as ever, without a single trace of emotion. And unyielding.

Suddenly furious, Maka jumped off the bed and lunged at the young shinigami, ripping the white mask off his face. "Why the hell not, huh?" she hissed. "You came in here with a cup in your hand!" she motioned towards the cup of Black Water Kid was now keeping safely out of her reach, behind his back. "And you were going to give it to whoever was lying in this bed, right? What's it matter to you if it happened to be me? After all, I am just _a human_! Since when do _you_ have a problem ending a human's life?" the blonde spat, almost shouting.

Kid blinked, for the briefest moment his golden eyes widening in horror and something else Maka could not read. He pulled his hood back, running a nervous hand through his dark strands. "That Brother wasn't _human_ at all and he would have killed you at best! At worst… Maka, when I demanded to be released I was thrown into some dark, filthy dungeon. The next day I was blind and my legs wouldn't carry me, but they made me work anyway, made me crawl while someone kicked me around with their boot. I couldn't let that happen to you! Yes, I think I would have killed him even he were human, but he wasn't, not anymore!"

Maka's stomach cringed painfully and a trembling hand rose to cover her mouth as tears welled up in her eyes anew. "It's no use, Kid… it's no use," she sobbed, dropping back to sit on the bed, because her shaky legs could no longer support her weight. "It's already been a few weeks since we last talked and I suppose you have no news from your father… We won't get out of here in a month…"

"In a month?" Kid sat down next to her, placing his hand gently onto her shoulder. "But… what happens in a month?"

The blonde wanted to speak, no, she wanted to scream, but her throat felt dry, constricted. "I'll turn sixteen in a month," the meister managed to let out, her voice a faint murmur. "And when I do, they'll make me into a Sister and force me to marry one of the Brothers… which means all of them… I would rather die than-"

Maka squeezed her eyes shut and held her breath, in absolute horror. She could not believe she'd actually told Kid about… about _that_. What could he possibly do? If shame alone could kill, she'd be dead now – as if it wasn't enough that she'd shoved all those things into his face! It was awful, awful! The only thing he could do was to give her the cup and get it over with, except the reaper had already brought it to his own lips and downed the contents in one gulp.

"Fuck!" Kid swore under his breath, the now empty cup dropping from his limp hand. "Oh, I-I'm sorry!" he then quickly went on to apologize, "I didn't mean to say that…"

But Maka wasn't listening anymore. All the anguish and fatigue had eventually caught up with her and she simply slumped to the side, resting her head against his shoulder numbly. "Help me, Kid…" she murmured, half-asleep, "Don't leave me here like this… just don't… either… kill me, or… marry me"


	7. Chapter 7

The small wooden door creaked ominously, breaking the silence, yet the blonde meister did not stir from her troubled sleep until ungentle hands thoroughly shook her awake. Two Sisters pulled her out of bed unceremoniously, gripping her upper arms in a bruising manner. Still half asleep and utterly confused, Maka tried to struggle free, but it was useless – they had her in an iron hold.

She was dragged out of her room and across the narrow, dark hallway of the habitation area, to another room she'd never been in before. It was somewhat smaller than the dining hall and without any furniture, just plain grey stone all around. It looked like it was meant for some kind of ceremony. Two small torches burned brightly on the sides, in contrast with the all too familiar darkness which normally dwelled around the place the Brothers and Sisters called home. The Older One stood in the middle of the room with a solemn look upon his hard features and Maka, almost blinded by the sudden light, was literally thrown at his feet onto the cold stone floor. But the painful impact was dulled by the terror gripping her at the sight of his unreadable expression as she looked up at him, at first not knowing what to make of it.

 _He knows! He must have found out I tried to take my own life! And now I was brought here for punishment!_ the blonde realized _._ Desperate, she clutched at the hem of his robes, too frightened to even cry. "Please! I haven't done anything! Please, have mercy on me!" she murmured choking, yet her pleading words resounded with unexpected intensity in the vast empty space.

The Older One looked down at her with disdainful disapproval. After all this time, she still hadn't learnt that she wasn't supposed to speak unasked? "Maka Albarn, will you be quiet or will I have to sew your mouth shut?" The blonde's whimpers died out, muffled by her own hands. _By Death, what will they do to me?_

"Get her ready, the ceremony is at midnight," he then ordered quietly and the Sisters hauled Maka up onto her feet once more. Her body fell prey to a weird numbness as the blonde could think of nothing past her fear.

They pulled her away to a smaller, adjacent room, which in contrast was filled with a multitude of cabinets, cupboards and various items the meister could barely distinguish in the semi-obscurity. The Sisters made swift work of stripping her of the ragged grey dress she'd worn since her arrival at the Temple and made her sit down into a large copper tub filled with lukewarm water. They scrubbed her whole body thoroughly with a hard sort of bar which could barely pass as soap, then dried her from head to toe in a rough towel.

Once the bath was finished, the two women pulled off a dark, dusty cloth, revealing a large mirror in which the blonde could see herself fully. Not that Maka wanted to – she didn't need to look in a mirror to know that she must have looked nothing short of awful. The Sisters clad her into a long, black dress, which was in somewhat of a better shape than her old one, with more of a cleavage and an interminable row of buttons on the front. The fabric was softer but also thinner and Maka was cold in it. What the hell was up with this makeover anyway? Unless… The Sisters brushed her hair next and swept it tightly into two braids which they twisted together in what felt like a complicated bun. After that, one of them held her chin up and smudged a generous amount of charcoal on the outline of her eyes. When they put the black veil over her head and pulled it down over her face, the blonde felt like she was about to suffocate.

"It is time to go," the Older One's voice interrupted the last minute preparations.

* * *

Maka no longer had any doubts what this was about as they walked down another corridor she'd never been in before. _Damn Kid and the old beggar! Now the Older One will do the one thing he knows I dread, even if I haven't come of age yet… He will force me to marry, this very night!_ Tears welled up in her tired eyes and slid down her cheek under the veil, but she did not bother wiping them off. The Older One was now holding her arm as she was practically blind and nearly stumbled from sheer exhaustion, while the two Sisters came behind with quiet steps.

"You would do well to obey your husband in everything, because he will not be as tolerant as I have been with you until now," he instructed. "And above all you would do well to keep your big mouth shut. Do you understand?"

"Yes…" the girl barely mouthed, but the Older One seemed to hear it nevertheless.

"You should also know beforehand that your marriage, although you could consider it fortunate eventually, will bring you no privilege whatsoever. You will still work and have your duties, just like until now," he went on. _Fortunate? What a bitter joke! By Death, how could I find this horror 'fortunate'?_ "The only thing that will change is that from now on you will share your husband's room and, should he be kind enough to allow it, his table as well"

The dark corridor seemed to stretch far past the habitations area and to lead further deep into the bowels of the mountain. The atmosphere got more humid but thankfully less chilly as the small group advanced in silence. They did not walk for much longer – soon they found themselves in front of a large, intricately decorated iron door, flanked by torches flickering with some bizarre, pale blue flames. The Older One pushed it open, revealing a large, dimly lit hall with high stone columns. The stale air smelled heavily of incense and smoke. Rows of strangely familiar statues were aligned along the walls and Maka stared at them from under her veil, almost forgetting her predicament. Judging by their stone carved garments, they seemed to be Brothers and Sisters, frozen in humble stances, standing with their covered heads bowed and their hands pressed against their chests.

 _It's a tomb! This place is a tomb!_ the meister knew instinctively, a cold shudder running down her spine. The Older One walked her to what seemed to be the middle of the hall, while the Sisters remained by the door. "Wait here," he said, "your husband to be will arrive shortly"

The blonde had no choice but to freeze on her spot and wait for the imminent doom. Why prolong her torture like this? Couldn't they just get it over with already? But then again, she told herself, if her future husband was late or something, maybe he wasn't that eager… Maybe he didn't want to be married either? That would have been a thing! But the wait did not last long. The Older One came to her side once more, a rough, thick piece of rope in his hands this time. Maka instantly panicked at the sight of it – what was he going to do with that?

"You are late, young one," a voice resounded from somewhere in front of her, although it could hardly be called a voice, it was more like a sinister shriek with a strange sort of multiplying echo. Even without her soul perception the meister could tell there was something infinitely foul and wicked lurking in those deep shadows. _Are these 'The Three'?_ She randomly wondered, but she did not want to know the answer. Right now she just wanted to run without looking back, to get as far away as possible from that unseen horror.

"You were nervous maybe? We can't think you have changed your mind, not after the price you have already paid for this pretty little virgin…"

Only then Maka realised that a figure had materialized next to her, but to her surprise it wasn't a Brother, hooded and covered in rags. Instead, she saw the black tasseled cloak and the white bone mask of a Death God. She couldn't look at him too much though, before the Older One elbowed her brutally and she had to let her gaze drop to the floor again. _They are marrying me to a Death God?! And I thought the old beggar was crazy…_

"I have not changed my mind."

Only then the truth struck her, as the familiar voice said those words – it was Kid. A thing further confirmed by the fact that he muttered something under his breath in addition, out of which the other meister could clearly make out the words 'bullshit' and 'can't believe this'.

But why…? _Because I have asked him to! By Death, I have actually begged Kid to marry me!_ This was it, Maka wanted to die right then and there. This was even worse than marrying a Brother, she could not believe she had asked such a thing of him in that accursed moment of weakness, that she had forced him into this! _How the hell am I supposed to look him in the eye again?_ _And all this only because I was a coward!_ A loud sob escaped her lips when the Older One bound their hands together with the thick rope and the young shinigami's cold fingers gave her a light, reassuring squeeze.

The sinister voice which seemed to belong to one and to several in the same time spoke some more, but the blonde was unable to pay any more attention to what was going on. It was beyond embarrassing. And she'd also heard them mention that he'd paid a price for her hand too! What could that have been, she wondered with dread.

"…this woman shall wear your ring so that everyone shall know that she is your possession and yours alone." The Older One hurried to remove the rough rope which had almost began to bite into the skin of her wrist and Kid turned to her, slowly removing both of his rings and slipping them onto her fingers. _Obviously…_ Maka couldn't help staring down at the two skull shaped jewels now adorning her hands, again rather baffled at how well they fit her. _And now I am his wife, his possession… his... what?_ There was absolutely no way she could wrap her mind around this.

"You may kiss the bride now"

The blonde winced in surprise as Kid moved to lift the veil off her face and she forced herself to look up at him, fearful that he was probably pretty much mad at her. He did frown slightly, but she guessed it must have been because she looked nothing short of terrible – she had been crying again and the charcoal the Sister had thickly applied around her eyes must have been now smudged down her cheeks. His hand rose up to her face, no doubt intending to wipe her dirty cheeks, but he reconsidered and his long, cool fingers only tilted her chin upwards before the shinigami leaned down to press his lips against hers.

Her eyelids fell shut and Maka's breath caught in her throat for the brief moment Kid's mouth was on hers, as she was tried by an emotion she'd never experienced before. A slight shiver ran down her spine, but it wasn't unpleasant. Yet it had been barely more than a peck and the reaper had done it precisely, without any hesitation or insecurity while she had simply stood there, trembling. _He's done this before!_ Of course, Kid was only her friend, but the thought hurt her unexpectedly. _Oh, by Death, this is a convenience marriage at best, I would do well to get a damned grip on myself, I can't act like this!_ Maka inwardly scolded herself, cursing her emotional nature and her lack of experience.

Before she knew it, the midnight ceremony was over and the Older One led them out of the hall on a different exit. He stopped on the threshold, gripping her arm once more. "From this point on, I can walk with you no further, Maka Albarn. Remember to behave if you don't want to feel your new master's wrath," he said warningly, before turning her back on her to leave.

The blonde meister followed Kid's black shrouded figure into another corridor, where there was pitch black. She would have felt more comfortable to hold his hand, but the Sisters – who, for some unknown reason were allowed to follow as well – motioned for her to walk behind him at a respectful distance. Once more she was forced to resort to groping blindly along the wall, while the two women walked closely behind her. Fortunately, it wasn't a very long way - she eventually heard a key spun in the lock and a door was opened, revealing a relatively small but pleasant looking room illuminated by candles.

Kid walked in, motioning Maka to follow and she did so shyly, throwing a wary glance around. The room was even smaller than she'd first thought, in fact it was no larger than her own, but it had an actual bed, covered with a soft-looking woolen blanket, and a miniscule table with a simple copper pitcher for water. Several small candles burned in a long and narrow niche carved along the back wall, where the gray stone was stained with smoke and old melted wax. Surprisingly though, the air was fresh and there was a bit of a draft, making the tiny flames dance and cast eerie shadows onto the empty walls.

The meister had stopped at the foot of the bed, a bit confused and not knowing what to do with herself as the two Sisters pulled the veil off her head and removed the pins holding her hair up, undoing the braids so that the honey colored strands now waved loosely down her shoulders. She looked up at Kid, who stood in a corner, still wrapped in his cloak and with his arms folded. She couldn't help noticing that all of his previous composure had gone down the drain and he looked terribly uncomfortable, observing the proceedings with a gradually growing scowl. When the Sisters began to undo the buttons of Maka's dress, he finally peeled himself off the wall and waved his hand dismissively.

"Enough! Get out, I'm impatient!" he said harshly and the Sisters retreated, stepping out of the room with a deep bow.

"Phew! By Death, these women are such a turnoff!" he grumbled more to himself, padding over and slamming the door shut in their wake. The young shinigami took a deep breath, his gaze carefully avoiding the blonde, who still stood unmoved and completely mortified, clutching the front of her dress.

"Right… this isn't awkward at all," he said conclusively.


	8. Chapter 8

Maka shifted under the woolen blanket, surprised at its softness. The bed she lay onto was oddly comfortable as well, it felt like having an actual mattress. It was the first time she'd woken up before the bell, which normally resounded throughout the Temple premises early in the morning, signaling to its inhabitants that it was time to wake up and get ready for a new day. As such, the blonde could not tell what time it was, but she felt strangely well rested. Shifting some more, the meister became aware that she'd slept with her clothes on and that her dress… _What the hell am I wearing? And what-_

She instantly quit asking herself any more questions as the door creaked open and the blonde realised that someone had crept into the room. Indeed, _crept_ was the right word, because no steps were heard, just a stronger draft as the air moved and a vague rustle of clothing. And something else, like sloshing of water. Slowly, willing away the freezing terror, Maka opened her eyes to a pleasant, luminous glow which couldn't have possibly been produced by her small candle, not that she ever left it burning during the night. She sat up quietly and saw a dark figure standing with its back turned in front of several candles which were alit in a long and narrow niche carved along the back wall. _I must be dreaming this!_ Maka buried her face in her palms and something cool and foreign touched her forehead. She instantly pulled her hands away, staring dumbstruck at the two twin rings she was now wearing. And then she remembered everything.

* * *

 _Oh hell! Oh hell!_ was all the blonde could think. A muffled cough followed by a muffled swear drew her attention towards the figure standing by the candles, doing something she could not see.

"Kid?" she asked softly.

He jumped and turned abruptly, knocking over one of the candles and letting out a small yelp. "Ahhh! I'm sorry! Did I wake you?" the young shinigami asked, currently sucking on his index finger.

"N-no, I just…" the other meister trailed off, fidgeting. Then she realised that the front of her dress was still open and she hurried to clutch the blanket to her chest, embarrassed. _I wonder_ _where he's been…_ She had slept on one side of the bed and now her eyes darted briefly to the other side. It was untouched. _Great, I must have made him sleep on the floor or something!_ Maka thought mortified. She fumbled to button up her new dress as quickly as she could, then slipped out of bed. Walking silently to where Kid stood, the blonde watched the candles, chewing onto her lower lip and awkwardly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Kid, I… I don't know what to say…" she began hesitantly, her voice barely a murmur. "I'm so sorry that I… forced you to do this…"

The reaper gripped her shoulders gently and made her turn towards him, but she still did not dare to look up into his eyes. "Maka, you didn't force me to do anything," he said softly." Besides, it was just a formality, so that you couldn't be wed to anyone else. Of course, it is a perfectly valid marriage and all, but once we get back to Death City, we'll be able to get an equally valid divorce, so it's absolutely nothing to worry about! And it went well so far…"

 _Right… it went well…_ Maka begged to differ. Of course, she suspected that nobody had pulled Kid out of his bed by force, stripped him naked and scrubbed him raw, after threatening to sew his mouth shut if he objected to the proceedings. All he'd had to do was to poof in there or something, the meister thought petulantly.

"Maka, please…" the shinigami whispered. " Just tell me that you trust me. Tell me that you're not… afraid of me"

 _Afraid?_ In all truth, she had been afraid at some point, terrified even, because there were things she still had not known, things Kid had not told her, things he still wasn't telling her… But he was her friend, he'd done it all to take care of her and even right now he was being far gentler than she would have deserved. But words did not come to her now and the blonde simply stepped forward and put her arms around the other meister, hugging him tightly as she buried her face into his shoulder with a silent sob. The fabric of his black cloak was cold and smelled faintly of smoke. "I'm so sorry, forgive me Kid! I won't ever doubt you again, ever!" she whispered back.

"It's alright, you've just been through a lot lately," he said soothingly and Maka felt his hand lightly smoothing her hair down her back. "Now you should put your boots on, or you'll catch a cold…"

The blonde pulled away with a shy smile and padded quickly back to the bed, sitting and reaching for her boots. Only now she had realised that once out of the bed, the room was quite chilly, even colder than her previous one. But it figured, Kid had no need for heat since he was pretty much as cold as ice himself and the blanket on the bed must have been just for the sake of comfort. She inwardly cursed the Sisters for giving her this new dress which was even thinner than the other rag.

* * *

"Here…" Kid had brought a bucket with clean water earlier, which he now placed on the floor at her feet. "Just hold still for a bit, okay?" Holding her chin up with two fingers, the young shinigami dipped the edge of his cloak into the water and began to dab at her face, cleaning off the smeared charcoal make-up. As he sat down next to her onto the bed, Maka couldn't help staring at him, although rather uncomfortable with being touched in such a familiar manner. It briefly crossed her mind that she'd never seen Kid so up close before and only now she noticed that his eyes weren't entirely golden, but also had a more caramel shaded core around the pupil. His pale face, with a small, slightly upward tipped nose had an eerie, porcelain smoothness, in utter contrast with the black and white bangs. It was… distracting. _Stop it! Stop it!_ Maka inwardly scolded herself and cleared her throat, hoping her classmate hadn't noticed anything.

"Kid… I will need some answers," the blonde said seriously, forcing her mind to focus onto the more pressing matters.

"I know," he nodded slowly, eyes still trained on her face. Damn his meticulousness, it was quite unnerving.

"Last night, those… those _things_ I heard back in that hall, those were 'the Three'? Are they kishin?" Maka could not repress a shudder at the memory of that voice which bore something like an invisible but accursed imprint of foulness and malice. "I wasn't able to see anything, it was too dark"

"Yes. _I_ _have_ seen them and I can tell they're not a pretty sight," the shinigami replied with a brief grimace, "Kishin, but worse and more powerful than any sort we've encountered so far. And they have been feeding on all the souls of the 'pilgrims', as you might have guessed already"

Maka flinched, causing him to momentarily withdraw his hand. Now he was telling her this? What else? "What about the other Death Gods? Were they forced to serve here as well or…?"

Kid rubbed his brow, as if he had a headache coming, and sighed. "I'm not sure what happened to them but… their mind is gone and it's like… they have no will of their own. They just do what they're supposed to do and that's it. None of them speaks and even their souls I can perceive quite vaguely"

The old beggar inevitably popped into the blonde meister's mind, how she waited, day after day, for the Death God she was married with, for the Death God she loved. And he wasn't dead, indeed he probably could not die, but still she waited in vain, because he had forgotten about her, he had forgotten everything. And he would never come back to her. The thought alone was heartbreaking. _'Love…_ _the reason why I'm here, why I will be here until the day they burn these old bones._ _I have no choice but to wait for him…'_ Maka was pulled from her musings when suddenly her friend broke into another coughing fit, hastily covering his mouth with his hands.

"Kid! Are you alright?"

He was panting slightly, and drew a deep breath. "It-it's nothing… I must have caught a cold or something"

 _Well, if I made him sleep on the floor…_ the blonde thought, instantly feeling guilty about it, but then her eyebrows twisted into a scowl. _Caught a cold?_ But surely shinigamis did not get sick! Weird, at any rate… and he seemed rather self-conscious all the sudden, wrapping the cloak around his body tighter, as if he were cold.

"Anyway," the reaper said, distracting her, "I was hoping we could speak with my father today," he added, pulling the bucket closer and waiting for the ripples to fade, until the surface of the water became a clear mirror. "I managed to steal this bucket just now and we must be very careful with it, if anyone finds it… well… it will be bad," he then explained with a wry smile.

"Oh, okay…" Maka preferred not to think of what exactly 'it would be bad' entailed. Instead, she focused on Kid's nimble fingers as he dialed Lord Death's number. It seemed to take nothing short of an eternity before her own reflection in the water blurred gradually, soon to be replaced by the all too familiar view of the Death Room, an endless blue skied space dotted with soft clouds and crosses of all shapes and sizes, thrown around randomly. As expected, Lord Death stood on the other side of the mirror and he greeted them in his usual cheerful manner. Although what the hell was he so good-humored about, the blonde meister could not tell.

"Maka! My baby, you're alright!" her father suddenly exclaimed, popping unexpectedly from behind Lord Death, almost pushing him aside. Maka fought a scowl at the sight of him, sniffing and sobbing like a small child. _Oh, by Death!_

"Yes Papa, I'm fine! Don't worry about me…" she muttered weakly, with an embarrassed shrug.

"Oh, good! I'm so happy! Kid had told me you were there as well and that you were okay, but I could hardly believe it until now, when I saw you with my own eyes, my sweet, precious little girl!" he squealed, then frowned suddenly. "But how did you manage to get into Kid's room, isn't that dangerous? Won't they notice? Maka, I know you miss Papa, but Papa doesn't want you taking any unnecessary risks, do you understand?" he added preoccupied.

 _Great!_ "Papa, it's okay, really, there's no danger. Nobody's going to say anything, now that we're-" She paused abruptly, as Kid elbowed her discreetly and shook his head. "Um… now that we're outside working hours…" the blonde improvised, with a gulp.

"Kid, I have been thinking about how to deal with this situation," Lord Death said, giving his redheaded scythe a gentle shove. "Of course, I shall have to investigate some more in the hope that I'll be able to gather more information which might be useful, but at the end of the day there is only one thing to do – you two must fight and defeat the three Kishins."

 _Fight?_ Did he mean, fight _those_ things? Maka shuddered at the mere thought or getting anywhere near The Three after what she'd felt the previous night during the ceremony, let alone…

"But father, even assuming that we could defeat The Three, we have no weapons!" Kid pointed. "How are we supposed to do this?"

"Maka _is_ a weapon, remember? Even if her ability is still dormant, it is there and she has used it once already. Admittedly, it will take some practice, perhaps a lot of practice to make it fully functional and of course, to achieve its full potential she will need to work with a meister. You."

The younger shinigami blinked, seemingly both surprised and confused, chewing his lower lip. "Well I… don't know what to say about that… It may or it may not work. There's no saying if we are even compatible and besides… I've never wielded a _single_ weapon before and certainly not a scythe. And Maka is a scythe," he said reluctantly.

The blonde meister, on the other hand, had known – or rather, had dreaded – that this was exactly what Lord Death was going to say they should do. And Kid was right, this had a great potential of not working at all. Not to mention, the thought of turning into a weapon and being handled by someone else was both bizarre and uncomfortable.

Lord Death sighed, clasping his hands together pleadingly. "Look, I know how awkward and un-doable this sounds right now. But as meisters both of you know that all efforts will have to be made and not just for your own sake, but for all the innocent souls who have been and will continue to be devoured by these monsters. So just bear in mind these five words – you _can_ and you _will_." Suddenly, the morning bell resounded out loud, and the call was ended.

"'You can and you will'. How very helpful and reassuring…" Kid observed dryly.

"Well… I suppose we could try…" the other meister mumbled weakly, fidgeting, as she stood to leave. She picked up the black veil the Sisters had left for her to wear (now that she was a married woman) and struggled to fix it somehow with the hairpins after briefly smoothing her hair. _There! Now I officially look just as horrible as the other Sisters…_ Maka concluded morosely.

"Wait…" Kid stood from the bed as well and glanced around thoughtfully. In the end, he went and picked some bluish-green mold off the wall with his thumb and smeared it carefully onto his friend's left cheekbone.

"What…?"

"It looks like a nasty bruise," the young shinigami explained softly, "Trust me, we wouldn't want them to think that, Heaven forbid, your wedding night went too smoothly…"

The blonde felt herself blush ever so slightly at his insinuation. "Right, Heaven forbid…" she agreed, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips regardless.


	9. Chapter 9

Maka huffed and put the food tray down onto the ground, then proceeded to fumble in her pockets in search for the key. Once unlocked, the blonde picked the heavy tray once more and kicked the door open with her foot, letting it swing out of the way. _How the hell is this going smoothly? It's not going smoothly at all!_ She walked in and very nearly dropped the tray onto the small table, then straightened her back to draw a deep breath.

It was almost dark – the candles were all but completely burned out, needing replacement. The fact the buds were alit meant that Kid had returned for the evening, but now he was gone again. Maybe to get new ones, Maka hoped, hugging herself. No way in hell was she going back to the kitchens for that – their room was in another 'wing' of the Temple complex and the shortest path between their corridor and the habitations area where the Brothers and Sisters lived and where the kitchens were was by crossing the outside terrace. There was another path on the inside as well – on which she'd been brought here the first time – but it was considerably longer and since there was no light it held an almost hundred percent chance of getting lost, not that she would have done any better even with lights on.

"So how was your day?"

 _Oh… he's here alright…_ Only now Maka noticed that on the other side of the bed there was a sort of trunk, for now the lid was tilted upwards, effectively concealing the reaper's form as he dug inside or whatever he was doing in there.

"Oh, my first day as a married woman was almost as good as my wedding night," the blonde declared ironically, throwing her arms to the side in emphasis. There was slimy, thick broth splattered all over the front of her dress. "It turns out I'm a horrible wife too, for I should have woken earlier and gone down the kitchens to get your breakfast, which of course I failed altogether. The Older One gave me a serious scolding for that, and for not asking what you'd have for dinner, so he made me carry all this stuff!"

Kid lowered the trunk lid at last and gave her a thoughtful once over, the shadow of an amused grin playing on his face for the briefest moment. "I don't know what to say… " He stood up slowly and folded his arms, a bit defensively. "Um, Maka… you know, this morning I didn't want my father to know about… about _this_ because… Well not because I regret it or anything, but-"

The blonde flinched, as his words struck an unexpectedly painful cord somewhere inside her. _Of course_. "Look, Kid, it's okay, really!" she hurried to say, interrupting him. "You don't have to explain anything to me" _Besides, Papa was there too…_

"No, all I wanted to say is that knowing my father, he would probably drop all his research on the matter of the three Kishins and start making a fuss about the fact that we're married instead of doing anything remotely useful," the young shinigami pointed. "Not that what he's come up with so far has been particularly helpful either…"

"I guess…"

Maka breathed, grateful for the change of subject. She really didn't want to hear Kid coming up with reasons as to why their arranged marriage had to remain a secret. Kid was her friend and he'd done it all to protect her, to keep her safe, but of course he didn't want to _be married_ to her – he was a shinigami, a Death God, while she was nothing but a poor human girl. And they were both much too young for such a thing. The meister hadn't asked herself whether _she_ wanted to be married to him, last time she'd checked she didn't have as much as a crush on anyone (and that included Kid), yet the thought hurt her in a strange way.

"So what do you think about that?" the reaper asked, moving from his place and much to her relief the blonde noticed he had a few spare candles in his hand, which he'd probably dug out of the trunk. "You did it once, with the kishin Asura, but they say you were practically in a coma in those moments. Turn to weapon form, I mean"

The other meister shrugged awkwardly. Too much too soon had happened for her to be able to digest everything, thus she hadn't given Lord Death's idea any thought yet. That was, any deeper thought past the initial horror of it. Alright, so maybe she had been good as a weapon, but even that one time she'd basically 'wielded herself'. Of course, they were right, her full potential could only be achieved if she had another meister wielding her, but… "Well I think that…um… ultimately I suppose I'll be able to work okay. Other than that, I think it will be weird. I really wish I had practiced that before, at home. I don't know how much we'll be able to practice here." _And I wish I could change out of this filthy dress! Except I don't have anything else to wear…_

Kid nodded. "Oh, I think 'weird' is an understatement. But don't worry, you're not alone in weirdness – I am practically crippled by the mere idea of using just one weapon instead of two," he observed, stooping to pick a copper bowl from under the table. Seeing it now, the blonde wondered why he needed the bucket as a mirror, but then realised that it was too shallow. "I'll go get you some water to clean that," the young shinigami added, pointing to the front of her dress.

"Oh I… thanks, but I've nothing to change in, so…"

"I've got several spare cloaks in the trunk, if nothing else. You can wear one of those. And on the bottom there are several pieces of something which passes as soap around here," he offered.

Maka approached the trunk cautiously as soon as he was out of the room - she'd always found it awkward going through other people's things, they simply felt too foreign and private to the touch. _Not that these are Kid's most personal belongings or anything,_ she reassured herself, kneeling and lifting the lid. It wasn't very big and the contents consisted mostly of a heap of Death God attire cloaks, folded neatly. On the side there was a spare skull mask, a bunch of spare candles, several pieces of so called soap, a rough towel and a hair comb. Other than the cloaks there was no spare clothing, like a shirt or anything – they must have had something against people owning any spare clothing at the Temple, she mused.

Involuntarily, the meister reached inside and fingered the cloak on top of the pile. Why did they feel so different when Kid was wearing them? They had a strange, smoky-velvety texture when wrapped around his body, but now they appeared to be made of a very plain, low quality black cloth. She sighed, her fingers fisting into the fabric. _As a shinigami, Kid is magical in so many ways that I can't even begin to comprehend, so why on earth would he want to be married to me? This must be so embarrassing to him…_ _even if it's a temporary, convenience marriage. And I can't probably even imagine how angry and disappointed Lord Death would be with me if he knew about this!_

"There you go." Kid had already returned with the water and set it down carefully at the foot of the bed. Maka stood up, clutching the cloak she'd grabbed to her chest and hoping her face wasn't betraying anything. She stared down at her dress uncomfortable.

"Could you…um… turn around please?"

Kid blinked. "Oh! Right, I'll just…" he realised, drawing back towards the door. "Sorry… I'll be outside until you're done"

Maka made swift work of most of the innumerable buttons and shrugged out of the dirty dress. Damn, it was chilly. She considered wrapping herself in the cloak, but she needed her arms to be free. In the end she decided to wrap it just like a bath towel and ignore the cold, at least until she would finish washing the dress. The water was ice cold, making her fingers hurt, the soap barely made any foam and the blonde cursed the Older One, the Sisters and The Three in earnest while fighting the disgusting stains.

* * *

A sudden muffled noise distracted her and Maka raised her head, listening in alarm. No, she hadn't imagined it, there it was again. The meister let the dress drop onto the floor carelessly and hurried to the door. Outside in the corridor Kid was down on his knees and he was coughing again, badly.

"KID! WHAT'S WRONG?!" the blonde cried, terror coursing through her instantly at the sight. She kneeled, placing a supporting arm around his trembling frame, while the shinigami shook his head, both his hands clamped over his mouth. "You can't stay here, it's cold! Let's get you inside, at least!" Maka urged, struggling to get the boy up on his feet. Kid wasn't half as heavy as she'd thought, in fact he was surprisingly light and seemed all in all frighteningly fragile all the sudden. As if he had faded somehow. Kicking the door open, the other meister half carried him inside and sat him onto the bed.

"I…" he cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter."I think I'm fine now… Perhaps I shouldn't have drunk so much…" the young reaper muttered, more to himself, pressing his fingers onto his forehead.

 _He means the Black Water._ Maka frowned. "I thought you said it just numbed you? Like a sedative? I know it is a _poison_ , but you said it doesn't affect you! And you're a reaper, how can you get sick in the first place?" She had not meant to raise her voice at him, but he was her friend and there she was, helpless, completely clueless as to how she could get him better.

"Actually I-I thought it didn't affect me, but t-then I began to get sick…" Kid stuttered in a faint voice, avoiding her gaze and burying his face in his hands again. "I d-didn't want you to know about this."

Maka's fists clenched at her sides and she wanted nothing but to slap him. Hard. He had _thought_ it wouldn't affect him? How could he be so reckless? And how could he still drink it, even after it had made him sick?! Was he still trying to kill himself, after he'd denied her the same thing? _No, that can't be it! Rather… it must have become an addiction. That's why he didn't want me to know about it..._ _Kid, it's alright. I'm here for you, no matter what. That's what friends are for, didn't you know?_ But the words did not make it past the blonde's lips, only her hand rose to cup his face in a somewhat shy but reassuring caress as he slumped onto her shoulder. Even if he'd stopped coughing, he still trembled as if he were cold.

Maka's eyes darted towards the table - she'd all but completely forgotten about the food. "You should eat something, it will do you good!" The blonde rapidly scanned the tray and decided on the broth she'd all but poured over her dress. It was still lukewarm. Carefully she held up the bowl and brought it to the boy's lips. Kid grimaced and tried to jerk away from the food, but the other meister's arm held him in place.

"You must! Please…" she said softly. _He's probably refused food as well, that's why the Older One said I should have asked what he likes! Admittedly, the food here is pretty bad, but still… how long did he go without eating? Was he planning to starve himself to death?_ Kid sipped the broth slowly, moaning in disgust from time to time, but Maka showed him no lenience.

"By Death, it's awful! Awful!" he breathed once done, drawing even closer, to the point the blonde felt his cold nose almost buried in the crook of her neck. "I've never eaten anything so horrible in my whole life, not even Stein could have cooked something this disgusting!"

"Oh, I don't know about that…" Maka reached for a plate of stew and a piece of dark bread. She hadn't eaten in more than a day herself and was pretty much starving at this point. Perhaps for some unknown reason, even if she was a mere human, her survival instincts were more developed than Kid's, she pondered, taking a mouthful of stew and mostly managing to ignore the bad taste. The bread helped somewhat. "Are you sure you don't want to try the stew as well? It's not that bad, although I have to say it's more like an acquired taste…"

"I am quite sure, thank you," the young shinigami said dryly. "Besides, you should eat too"

Maka finished her food – which in the end meant _all the food_ on the tray – in silence, feeling slightly awkward to have Kid so close, leaning against her like that. His eyes were closed, black lashes resting against the pale cheeks. His breathing had steadied, but he still seemed worn out, in dire need of rest and shivers still raked his body from time to time.

"Maka… you're so… warm," the reaper moaned softly, his hand blindly searching and gripping her wrist lightly, as if he were trying to feel her pulse.

The blonde put the last empty plate back on the tray slowly and attempted to push him gently off her frame. "We should get you into bed now, you need to get some rest. As much as you can, in fact," she said, reaching down to remove both their boots. The meister then slid off his suit jacket and hastily tucked him in, under the blanket. But then she realised it – Kid wasn't going to get any warmer under the blanket, since his own body was cold as ice. No, he needed human body heat. _Her_ body heat.

 _Gah, this is going to suck!_ Maka thought, her teeth already beginning to clatter as she shed the cloak and slipped under the blanket in nothing but her underwear. At least Kid's eyes were closed and his breathing had become even, but he instinctively snuggled closer. She pressed flush against him, still hoping he wouldn't get a feel of what was going on and gently brushed his striped bangs off his forehead.

"Kid," she whispered, "Don't leave me…"


	10. Chapter 10

It wasn't so cold anymore. In fact, she was even a bit sweaty, Maka realised, trying to shift under the blanket and stretch her numbed muscles. For some reason she couldn't, though. The meister opened her eyes slowly, wanting to discover what the impediment was. A single candle bud was still lit, casting a pale, flickering glow around the small room, and beside her Kid was still sleeping, peacefully. Actually, 'beside' was improperly said – he was more like lying half on top of her, his right arm draped casually over her bare chest and fingers lightly resting onto her shoulder.

 _Shit! Oh, by Death, I hope he didn't wake up sometime during the night and realised…_ Maka thought, mortified at the idea. Ever so carefully the blonde pushed his hand aside and slipped out of bed, rapidly diving to collect her dress from where it was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor. It was still slightly damp, but it didn't matter, she slid it on and quickly buttoned it up, throwing the spare cloak over it. It must have been very early in the morning - she knew she must have woken up before the bell this time, just as the Older One had warned. Soundlessly, Maka slipped out of the room.

Outside it was barely dawning, the sky fading to a paler shade of dark blue. It was still quite cold, but the air was still for a change. Maka took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh air – spring, an actual spring was coming, for a wild smell of herbs wafted in the air and the scattered bits of vegetation were more visible now among the steep, grey rocks surrounding the courtyard. But the thought brought the blonde no joy, instead filled her with sadness and even dismay. Almost one year had passed already since they'd found themselves in this place, in this prison. _One year!_

The meister breathed again, willing away the unshed tears as she sped towards the habitations area. In the kitchens the Sisters on duty that day were already at work, as usual under the surveillance of the Older One. Maka remembered what Kid had told her briefly about Brother Elgar - that he wasn't human. _Not anymore, that's what he said…_ Why 'not anymore'? What had he meant by that? Her gaze darted towards the Older One as she waited patiently for the food to be ready, examining him curiously. Under the ragged hood what was visible of his face was dry like parchment and bore an unhealthy yellowish shade. His eyes were of a dark, undistinguishable color, but they _looked_ human. Unlike Brother Elgar, his fingers were thick and blunt, with short and dirty nails, not talons. Perhaps this one was still human? Maka couldn't help remembering (and inwardly shuddering at the memory) of how resilient the other Brother had been to her attacks, as if he could feel no pain and his muscles were wrought in iron. If she thought of it, the Older One seemed to be a rather difficult opponent to take on too. The meister wondered if he had a soul, that would have been a definitive proof pro or against any assumption, but she'd blocked her soul perception and did not dare to use it again yet. And unfortunately her observation of him did not go unnoticed by the head Brother.

"Maka," he suddenly spoke, just as the blonde had started to fill a tray of food. Her breath hitched in her throat and she was grateful that the black veil shadowed her face.

"Yes…?"

The Older One drew closer as the meister had resumed arranging the plates and picking cutlery, stopping right next to her. "How is your husband treating you?" he asked, and she could guess nothing from his tone. Yet she froze anyway, setting the tray back slowly onto the table for fear of dropping it. Why did he want to know? It certainly wasn't like he cared! But he must have seen the 'bruise' on her cheek the previous day, when by the way she'd blown it even worse since she'd forgotten about Kid's breakfast. And now he'd probably expected to see more bruises, which weren't there. _Shit!_ _By Death, this is bad!_

"Fine…" she muttered almost inaudibly, avoiding the Older One's gaze and hoping he'd inquire no further, letting her leave. But the man didn't budge.

"Why are you wearing his cloak? Did you steal it?" His tone had grown harsh and threatening all the sudden, he was almost shouting. "How dare you wear this garment, you wretched creature?!"

Maka gulped, bowing her head even lower and sure that the man was going to hit her any moment now. _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What the hell was I thinking?_ But he didn't, instead he seemed to be waiting for an answer. _Even worse! "_ H-he said I look much too sickly and thin and ordered me t-to… to eat more and wear this… I-it has a s-stain on it and h-he wouldn't wear it anymore…" the blonde stuttered horribly, choked by terror and deep down knowing that she probably shouldn't have said that.

The Older One assessed her thoughtfully for a moment. "Is that so…?" The question was followed by a disdainful snort as he finally stepped away from her. Maka squeezed her eyes shut, unable to repress a shudder at the thought that most likely now she'd gotten Kid into trouble with this uninspired lie. But what was she supposed to say?

"Don't think a Death God would care for you, foolish girl," he added in a lower voice. "You're nothing more than a mere pet, that until he gets bored with you"

A soft whimper escaped Maka's lips at his words. What exactly was he suggesting? Were they expecting Kid to simply dispose of her after a while, when he - as the Older One had put it - 'got bored'?

"You've no one but yourself to blame for this, you know. I've been told about how you looked at him. Most likely he wouldn't have noticed and asked for you otherwise…"

* * *

The blonde placed the tray on the table and threw a wary glance towards the bed. The morning bell had already rung when she was on her way back from the kitchens, but Kid was still asleep.

 _Damn, this can't be good!_ Maka didn't know what to do. He was resilient, she told herself, but he had drunk God knew how much of that poison… so he probably needed more rest to recover fully. But then again, she didn't think that skipping work, even for a few hours, was in anyway acceptable. _I have to wake him up, I have no choice…_

The meister kneeled down onto her side of the bed and reached out for his shoulder, resisting the sudden temptation to brush his hair away from his forehead again. Somewhere in the back of her mind Maka couldn't stop being awed at how close they'd become in such a very short time, at least physically. Hell, she'd never shared a bed with a boy before at all, let alone with this little clothing on. The blonde could feel her cheeks beginning to burn as the thought crept on her again.

"Hey! Kid, you must wake up, it's late!" she said softly, shaking his shoulder and instantly rewarded with a groan. The young reaper sat up abruptly, holding his head in his hands for a moment, then slipped out of bed in the blink of an eye.

"Ah, damn it!" he muttered, running a hand through his ruffled strands and glancing down morosely at his creased shirt. But all the trouble was immediately fixed with a simple smoothing motion of his hand. _Bah, not fair!_ Maka thought petulantly, why did he always have to look so neat? _Unlike me_ …

"Um… hey," Kid said, a bit shyly. "I'm sorry I overslept…"

"A very good morning to you too," Maka couldn't help it. "I managed to bring breakfast this time," she added, sitting on the edge of the bed and picking up a plate demonstratively.

"Oh… right. Good morning… Sorry, I don't know what's with me…" the shinigami mumbled apologetically, sliding his suit jacket on and throwing a black cloak over it. "And yes, you should eat. Y-you still look quite pale," he said, wrapping the tasseled cloak around him sort of defensively as he eyed the food.

 _Oh hell, here we go again,_ the blonde meister realised, _he doesn't want to eat!_ "Kid, please sit down," she said calmly, patting the place next to her, and rather to her surprise the reaper obeyed, but he still looked reluctant. "Here," she added, handing him the plate she'd prepared especially, "I put in two radishes too, see?" Maka tried an encouraging smile."At least I think they're radishes…" she added under her breath.

Kid blinked, positively confused. "Um… and?" he asked cautiously.

"And it looks… symmetrical?" she offered, less and less convinced that her plan would work.

A small, surprised smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he observed the plate. "I don't know what to say, you shouldn't have bothered… thank you…" he said. The young reaper seemed just as puzzled now as when she'd gone to search for his ring. Clearly he wasn't used to people doing things for him, Maka thought. The conclusion saddened her.

"So you will eat now?"

Kid made no move to pick up the plate and the blonde frowned. "But you agreed that it looks symmetrical!" she pointed, annoyed. "And you know that you should eat! Especially after last night!"

"Um…" His hand sneaked discreetly towards his mouth. "Yes, it's a symmetrical crap…"

"Kid, please! Please don't be difficult!" _Oh, by Death, he's a handful!_ she thought, exasperated, and despite herself all the tears she'd held back now came to her eyes and spilled silently down her cheeks before she could hide them.

"Maka!" the shinigami gasped, pulling her into his arms and holding her close as she whimpered softly. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll eat, okay? Please, forgive me!" His fingers tangled into her hair, caressing gently and the blonde realised that she was trembling. In fact, she'd been trembling ever since she'd left the kitchens. "Hey, are you alright? You're shaking! What happened?" Kid asked softly, running his thumb over her wet cheeks.

"No… actually I had another… encounter with the Older One. He said… well he got very angry that I was wearing your cloak and I had to lie to him and say you made me wear it and then… he said I'm just a pet and you'll get bored with me sooner or later…" she blurted out, aware that she wasn't necessarily making much sense. "He just… it scared me! I don't know what they're expecting of us, I just don't know what's going to happen…" the meister said, pulling away eventually and wiping her face with the back of her hand.

To her relief, Kid finally decided to pick up his plate. "Well, this marriage thing is surely more complicated than I thought. There's clearly more to it than fighting over who should take out the garbage," he observed, taking a mouthful of stew and grimacing.

Maka managed a small laugh. Who knew reapers actually had a sense of humor? Although he didn't seem to be joking… "I have to say, Kid, your vision of marriage isn't exactly romantic"

"I was only talking about the complications part," he defended with a light smile. "I don't suppose the romantic part –where there is one - should be complicated… or at least one can only hope it isn't"

 _Speaking of which…_ "Did you sleep well? I was under the impression that you woke up sometimes during the night or something…" she couldn't help asking. For some reason now she also feared that if she didn't tread carefully it might make things awkward between them. _Ahead of time, that is…_ For she was terribly worried about how the whole weapon-meister experiment was going to turn out.

"No, I slept like a rock actually, for once in quite a long time," he replied, for once focusing on his plate and not looking at her.

A vague scowl crept onto the blonde's face. Had he hesitated, just the slightest bit, before answering? _He wouldn't lie, would he? Oh, by Death, get a grip on yourself!_ After all, as long as he didn't say anything… And the warmth had done him good, most likely she would not have to repeat that thing again. He was clearly better and hadn't been coughing anymore so far, he even looked good… or as good as someone who constantly looked as white as a sheet could, at any rate.

"You're right, this isn't going as smoothly as I thought," Kid said with a sigh, abandoning his half-full plate. "They must be keeping an eye on us and there's always the danger that they might get suspicious. We don't have much time left, we will have to do something about it soon. I suppose we'll have to start practicing…"

 _Practicing…_ Maka flinched inwardly. She wasn't ready for it, not with what kept happening. And she really needed to pull herself together and focus, think past her fears. What if in the end she couldn't deal with being a mere weapon and not make the decisions? What if they weren't compatible? So many questions spun in the blonde's head, making her dizzy.

"Kid…" Maka began hesitantly. As much as she hated bringing it up, it was important. She couldn't handle him being sick, not when she was helpless like that, not really knowing how to take care of him. "Promise you won't drink any more Black Water. Please, promise me!" Her gaze shot up, searching his eyes as the young shinigami fidgeted a bit, clearly uncomfortable with the subject.

"I promise…"


	11. Chapter 11

_I suppose we'll have to start practicing…_ Those few words tormented Maka throughout the day as she went about doing her usual tasks. Kid had said that he was well enough for a first attempt at training, so there was no avoiding it now. In truth, the blonde was quite aware that delaying it any longer was a very bad idea, since their marriage had only been (and it was obvious now) a temporary solution. The Older One asking questions could only mean that he was somehow suspicious of what was going on, after all – Maka thought – a Death God marrying a mortal woman must have been something quite out of the ordinary.

_Although the old beggar said she was married to a Death God as well… Could there be any truth in all that? But why would a shinigami take a mortal wife when they cannot die? Out of a need for companionship? Out of boredom? And aren't there any shinigami girls? If Kid was born out of fragment of Lord Death's soul, does that mean there aren't any? Or maybe the 'fragment of his soul' thing is just a metaphor…_

The blonde meister shook her head, folding the silk garment neatly and placing it in her basket. Was this really the issue now? No, the issue was practicing the whole damned 'weapon thing' and then finding a way to defeat the three Kishins so that they could return home. _And get 'an equally valid divorce'… Great, I'll be barely sixteen and already divorced! I'll be a 'divorced woman'. Just like mom…_ Maka facepalmed. _Oh, enough of that, I can't keep thinking of that! So… back to practicing… Oh, by Death!_

Maka threw a fleeting glance to the edge of the terrace, where the old beggar was sitting, on her way back to her room. But no, she could not be seen talking to the woman again and what was she supposed to ask her anyway? And why did these questions bother her all the sudden? Maybe she was desperate to think of anything else but the matter at hand, the meister told herself, sighing.

* * *

Her hand was already sweating and trembling as she pressed the knob and pushed the creaking wooden door open. Just as she'd thought, Kid was back too from his daily duties and rummaging through the trunk on the other side of the bed while muttering something unintelligible. Maka instantly noticed that his white shirt, as well as the jacket and trousers of his suit seemed freshly washed and had been put out to dry. So what the hell was he wearing now?!

"Hey!" the young shinigami said softly, looking up at last and lowering the trunk lid. Much to Maka's relief, he was wrapped in a black cloak.

"Hey…" she managed weakly, unable to refrain from fidgeting as she set the dinner tray on the table. "So… what do you think is with the lack of spare clothing thing?" the blonde asked at last, pointing at his clothes. "I couldn't help noticing they haven't given you any either…"

"What? Oh… " Kid scratched his head. "Well, actually I've got plenty of spare clothing"

Maka's eyebrow shot up in confusion. "What do you mean, you've only got… several cloaks. Right?"

The young reaper cleared his throat, sort of avoiding her gaze as he stood up. "Well, not to shock you or anything, but I'm not actually supposed to wear anything else. You see, for a very long time reapers did not wear human clothing and here they are still keeping that custom, it seems. But then again, everything is pretty ancient here, I guess…"

_Not supposed to wear anything else? What the hell, is he teasing me or something?_

The blonde took a deep breath, hoping that her cheeks weren't by any chance reddening or something. "Anyway, Kid, I've been meaning to ask you certain things…" she let out before she was able to stop herself, as she sat down and picked up a bowl of stew from the tray.

"Such as?" Kid picked his own bowl and eyed it with infinite disgust, while muttering something along the lines of 'if I eat this I'm going to die' under his breath.

"Well… I couldn't help thinking that, you know, if the Older One has begun asking me questions, he must be suspicious… And, I mean… um… I'm just thinking… um… that perhaps this whole marriage thing is rather unusual? I mean the old beggar told me once that she was married to a Death God but I just thought it was plain crazy, because why would a shinigami marry a mortal woman or something, you know? I mean, um… aren't there any shinigami girls, you know, out there?" Maka muttered quickly before stuffing a piece of bread in her mouth, not knowing what to make of the young reapers expression. He didn't seem offended in any way though… _Gah, why did I have to go and ask him all this bullshit!?_

Kid blinked. Well, if he wasn't offended by her questions, he was certainly surprised.

"Look, I… I'm only asking these questions because I'm afraid of what else he's going to ask me and I'm afraid I won't know the right answer, that's all!" the blonde hurried to explain, fidgeting again uncomfortably and this time she could clearly catch a hint of amusement in the shinigami's golden eyes as he poked at his stew.

"Well, I don't mean to sound negative Maka, but my father was never married – or not that I know of – and I surely have never been married before, so if there are any… um… particular issues related to a shinigami marriage, we most likely won't know the correct answer anyway, in case they ask," he said, smiling. "But just to put your mind at ease, I shall answer your questions, to the best of my knowledge"

 _I suppose he does have a point_ Maka thought, but did not dare to look up from her plate this time.

"I guess such a marriage could be considered somewhat peculiar," Kid went on, "because shinigamis were created to be… um… how to put this? I think 'self-sufficient' is the word – so theoretically we are in no need for a mate or anything of the kind. But I have heard of cases where certain shinigamis did have… um… let's say _relationships_ with humans, so I suppose that a marriage is not _that_ extraordinary… Are there any shinigami girls? Huh… I don't really know. I mean I've only met just one, but she is only half shinigami. Her father is a reaper"

"And her mother is human?" Maka wanted to know, suddenly feeling an anxious twist in her stomach. _A half-shinigami?_

"Heh…um… no. Her mother is a witch, actually," Kid replied with a wry smile, rubbing the back of his neck.

The other meister's jaw dropped. _What?_ " _WHAT?_ But I thought reapers and witches are natural enemies or something!"

Kid laughed openly this time. "That's it, Miss Albarn, no more 'juicy' stuff for you. I think it's dark enough outside now not to be seen by anyone, we should go and begin our practice"

Maka dropped her plate as well and followed him out in the corridor with a flustered expression and her cheeks burning. "Were you just laughing at me right now, Mr. Death the Kid?" she demanded angrily as she struggled to keep up with his long strides.

"Absolutely not, I told you nothing but the truth," the young shinigami replied, his voice regaining its usual serious, dry tone."And don't give me that look, it's not like _I'm_ her father… He is officially a loon, by all accounts though"

_Bah! By Death, he's definitely teasing me! Damn you, Kid!_

* * *

_Okay, okay, I can do this, everything's going to be alright, everything's going to be alright!_ Maka told herself, taking a deep breath and extending her right arm to the side. She breathed some more, steadying her nerves and focusing, as her arm gradually morphed into a dark grey, razor sharp scythe. The moonlight shone wickedly on the blade as the blonde experimentally swung it back and forth.

"Well, at least this part seems to be working," she observed with a small smile, but to her surprise Kid looked rather reluctant eyeing the blade. "What's the matter?" A frown crept onto her own face as she recalled Soul and Black Star's disastrous attempt at fighting together. She had laughed then, just like everyone else, but now it was definitely less amusing. "Are you afraid… that we're not compatible?" Okay, so she had to ask.

"No," Kid said in a low voice, leaning against the stone wall. "Theoretically reapers are compatible with any weapon, so nothing should go wrong in that department"

"Just like Excalibur is theoretically compatible with any meister?" Maka asked innocently.

If Kid was by any chance hit in full by the uninspired comparison, he deftly concealed it. "Oh, no, I think that _the holy sword_ Excalibur is quite unique. There is absolutely no one like him," the young shinigami said seriously. "Fortunately… but no, I don't think we're incompatible, after all team soul resonance has worked just fine in the past… I am a bit afraid of scythes though, to be honest," he added with an awkward shrug.

 _What? He's actually afraid of… me? And here I thought I was the one being afraid, I thought he feared nothing…_ Thinking about it, Maka resumed her practice by morphing each of her limbs into blades in turn. It was still a bit weird, but she was slowly getting the hang of it. "You're afraid of scythes? Um… would you care to expand on that?"

Kid eventually peeled himself off the wall and drew closer, reaching out to run his fingers over the blade of her currently morphed arm. It tickled a bit. And funny thing, he didn't seem so afraid now… Maybe he was only trying to make her feel better by a bit of commiserating?

"Back when I was still at the beginning of my work as a meister my father had this fantastically bad idea to bring several scythe girls he'd selected especially so that I could choose one of them as my partner. Long story short, it went very badly in more than one way and I got a nasty cut too, good thing I'm a fast healer. It was quite a dismal affair, but then I found Liz and Patty and everything was great because… heh… you can't cut yourself with pistols"

_Yeah, flawless logic… you can't cut yourself with pistols_

Maka didn't really know what to say to that. A weapon and a meister were supposed to be close and that closeness involved knowing (most) things about each other – in fact barely keeping any secrets - but there were so many things she still didn't know about Kid and she could never as much as hope to intuit them. Like this, for example! While he was strong and resilient he also appeared to have a vulnerable side in need of understanding and protection. And she could never tell what the hell he was thinking, since he was very adept at not showing any emotion unless he wanted to. That was extremely frustrating, especially since the blonde suspected that the other meister had no trouble guessing her every thought.

"Um… well, there's nothing to be afraid of and I promise to be careful… "Maka muttered at last, pulling away from his touch. "Okay, okay, so I'm going to try the 'real thing' this time," _Oh, by Death this is going to be sooo awkward!_ She glanced up at the star dotted night sky and gulped. "Just try not to catch me with your head…" she grumbled under her breath.

"I shall do my best," Kid replied with a brief smile, but for some reason he didn't sound very convinced. At least to Maka. _Hell no! I can't think like this! He's my meister, if I don't trust him this will never work! So I… I have to trust him! He'll do just fine, after all he is a reaper, not just any meister._

Taking a deep breath, the blonde launched herself and soared upwards, feeling her whole body morph into a strange, immobile shape. It felt far more bizarre than she'd ever imagined it would be. Unable to move at all, Maka instantly panicked as she began to fall back, already imagining the pain coming next as she would hit the ground. She assumed it would not be that bad in weapon form, but still… and she couldn't even scream. Well, technically she could, but a screaming scythe would have been somewhat ridiculous.

But then a firm hand caught her handle in mid fall and she was lifted upwards in a swinging motion. "There, I've got you!" the young shinigami pointed. "Maka? Are you okay?"

 _Phew!_ "Y-yeah, I am… quite okay. So how does it feel? I think it is a bit… um… weird?"

Kid weighed the scythe in his right hand thoughtfully, then switched to his left, a morose expression gradually creeping onto his face. "Huh, weird doesn't even begin to describe it… I mean you definitely make one very fine weapon, Maka, it's just that… just that it's just one." He sighed and relaxed. "I suppose I'll just have to hold you with both hands then"

"But… that technically means that… you don't really know how to wield a scythe?" the other meister realised out loud. _Well, he just said he's never wielded a scythe before or something, right?_

The shinigami resumed holding her with only one hand for the moment and gave her a wide spin which looked pretty expert. "Nah, that's not a problem. Any weapon is kind of intuitive for us, we know how to wield it just fine. Which doesn't make this any less weird, of course…"

"Okay," she said, obviously relieved. "I think it's enough for tonight, as far as am concerned. Please throw me upwards so that I can change back to human form!" _And hopefully not fall flat on my face…_

But she did it – she landed quite gracefully and turned towards her new meister with a big satisfied grin plastered on her face. Kid smiled back at her and the blonde couldn't help noticing how the pale moonlight illuminated his porcelain face and his golden eyes, while a gentle breeze played in his hair. Suddenly, without knowing why, her heart simply sank in her chest and for the briefest moment she felt like she was suffocating.

_Oh, why the hell am I getting so worked up on this? I don't even like anyone! And Kid probably likes that half-shinigami girl - she must be beautiful…_

_Just like him_


	12. Chapter 12

She lay in bed with her eyes open, staring blankly at the eerie shadows cast by the solitary burning candle bud on the dark ceiling. What the hell had _that_ been, the first time they'd tried the whole weapon thing? Was the tension getting to her, like never before? The first practice session had gone well, the blonde thought. And the one after that, in fact it had gone well every night for the whole week, even if a bit exhausting. Their soul resonance was working perfectly – just as Kid had anticipated - but it felt weird in a way she could not describe. Like they were too close, like this was simply… _too much_ to handle on her behalf. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to being vulnerable like that – she'd had this kind of 'becoming one' thing before with Soul, but still, she was in control, she was making the decisions, she was the one actually doing the fighting. And she'd never asked her partner how that made him feel – had it ever made Soul feel as helplessly passive as it was making her feel? And that wasn't the only issue – her whole current relationship with Kid was throwing her off balance.

_When we get back – if we get back – to Death City he'll go back to living in the Gallows Mansion with Liz and Patty and be their meister, while I'll just go back to my room, lie in my bed all alone and just… just think about how he'll never sleep next to me again…_

Maka couldn't really explain these thoughts or why they had been pestering her incessantly for the last few nights. It wasn't like she was developing a 'liking' for her friend, that wasn't possible, was it? After all, she had never liked anyone before, not _that way_ … And with Kid it was just absurd. He was a Death God and the other meister had given quite a lot of thought to the notion lately. They were powerful and magical… despite any apparent vulnerability or human weakness. And they were simply _way out of her league_.

And now here she lay, all the moments Kid had held her in his arms soothingly pressing heavy onto her heart. In the quiet of their small room the blonde listened to his steady breathing as he slept peacefully next to her, so close that she could simply reach out and touch him. _Could it be… that I actually… like him?_

* * *

Maka had not slept at all. There were surely dark circles around her eyes and she must have looked like all hell, she thought fleetingly while smoothing her hair as best as she could and draping the black veil over it. But she didn't care. Maybe she should have cared? The pressure in her chest was still present, hard to ignore. But what was this feeling?

She walked all the way to the kitchens in a half-dazed state, for once not worried about the Older One and his suspicions. After all, maybe he could smell her fear and if she didn't fear him, if she just ignored him, maybe he would ignore her in turn. She wasn't wearing anything but her dress today, even if the weather remained a tad chilly, so there was no reason for the head-brother to be picking on her again.

"Wait," he said, walking up to her just as the blonde had picked up the breakfast tray. "Here," the massive man placed a small bowl on her tray and turned his back on her without another word.

Maka stared at it curiously for a moment – it had fruits in it, a sort of dark red berries, but nothing like she'd ever seen before. It went through her mind had she hadn't had anything fresh like fruits in a very long time, but it was just impossible now to put anything in her mouth. Hurriedly, she went back to their room and slipped inside quietly, abandoning the breakfast tray on the table. The blonde then left to her duties, in dire need of being alone to think.

* * *

By the time Maka finished her daily tasks at the Temple it was getting dark, even darker than it should have due to the menacing clouds piled onto the spring sky and it had begun to pour. She stepped outside and stared in doubt at the place near the stone railing where the old woman sat motionless, her ragged clothes soaked and water dripping from her gray, tangled strands of hair. Without thinking any further, she padded over there and kneeled in front of her, seeking her eyes.

And only now, as the beggar raised her head to look back at her, Maka noticed that the woman's deep brown irises were rimmed with gold. What did that mean? She smiled lightly, encouragingly, but the blonde meister realised she didn't really know what she wanted to ask her. She gulped, trying to find her words. _Ask her something, anything!_

"I…um… h-how did you end up married to a Death God? And what's it like, to… be married to a Death God?"

The woman's lips curled into a wider, cunning smile. "If I'm not mistaken, child, you are yourself acquainted with one, are you not?" she asked. "I am not blind, you know. So what the hell do you think it's like?" This time the beggar laughed openly and sincerely, as if nothing in the world could have been more amusing. Maka frowned.

"It was a very long time ago," she went on, sighing softly," And I was almost as young as you are now. I had come here to die, because my father and master was cruel and he'd already arranged a marriage with a man much older than me and whom I loathed. Back then I saw no other way out of it – since I'd run away from home I could have gone anywhere else, but I was much too afraid and so I chose to come here. It was a coward's path, I know… I thought the Death God would just give me the cup and his embrace and it would all be over, all the pain and the fear. But instead he asked me " _If you're so willing to throw your life away, why not give it to me?_ " I was scared, but I did not dare refuse him. And then he simply took my soul"

"But you said that you love him…?" Maka whispered."I mean, I'm not just 'acquainted' with a Death God, I am… um… married to him actually. It was a convenience marriage at first, well it still is but… I think… I think…" _What the hell do I think, exactly?_ "I think I… like him"

"If you say so…" the beggar said, with an all-knowing smile.

The blonde gulped."I can't tell him that though," she said quickly."I'm so afraid… I think, I mean I am so beneath him and I shouldn't dare…"

The old woman laughed again, this time even harder. "Don't worry so much, child. In the worst case he'll throw a fit or something. Isn't that what they usually do?"

Maka stood up abruptly and walked away, scowling. It probably took a very long time being married for someone to end up finding the throwing of fits amusing. And the last thing she needed to deal with was one of Kid's tantrums, not to mention what the hell had she just said? Had she just confessed to a complete stranger that she _liked_ him? ' _And then he simply took my soul…_ ' Had this really happened? Had the young shinigami taken her soul, gradually, secretly, without her even realising it?

* * *

As soon as she stepped inside their room, Maka was hit by the sudden thought that she'd completely forgotten about dinner. However, that was far from being the current issue. Kid stood next to the table - on which the bowl of berries was untouched – with his arms crossed and an unreadable, cold expression.

"I'm sorry…" she muttered faintly, glancing down at her feet and not really knowing what she was apologizing for. The blonde flinched when the reaper stepped closer and lifted her chin with two fingers, searching her eyes.

"Maka, what's wrong?" he asked gently and she saw that his expression had visibly softened.

The other meister took a deep breath, forcing herself not to stutter. "I don't know what's with me, I just… This morning I left like this and now I forgot about dinner…"

"Which is not necessarily a bad thing," Kid observed neutrally, pulling away from her and returning to the table. He fidgeted a bit and cleared his throat, his gaze darting back to the bowl of fruits. Being in that weird state all day, it hadn't occurred to Maka that something could have been wrong, or suspicious about it, but now… She stared at it too, unable to figure out what the issue was.

"Maka," her friend began, an unexpected hint of cautiousness in his voice, "you said that the Older One asked you some questions about our marriage. I was wondering what it was _exactly_ that he wanted to know?"

The blonde shrugged, confused and hoping that Kid wasn't testing her or something. "Not much really… I mean he only asked one question – he wanted to know how you are treating me. And I said fine. That was it, he didn't ask anything else afterwards!" she hurried to say. "So what's with those berries? He just gave them to me this morning and said nothing. I thought it was sort of nice, you know? To give us some fresh fruit…" _Why the hell did I say that, am I stupid?! Something must be very wrong with this!_

"Did you eat from that bowl?" Kid asked calmly, but it was obvious he was hiding something.

"No, why? Are they poisonous or something?"

Kid crossed his arms again and frowned. "No, but they seem to have other effects about which I was _kindly enlightened_ earlier… Surely, I suppose it was very nice of them to provide this"

"What do you mean?"

"Surely the Older One must have somehow drawn the conclusion that you were _unhappy_ ," he explained,"and he sent this fresh fruit to… make you happy. Yes, they are said to work that way"

Maka scowled, staring hard at the mysterious bowl of fruit and trying to figure out the hidden meaning in what Kid was saying. "Oh, I get it!" she said at last. "These are supposed to work for me the way Black Water works for you, right? That or they must give a vitamin boost or something," the blonde decided sternly.

The young shinigami looked completely puzzled for a moment, before he unexpectedly burst out laughing. "A _vitamin boost_?"

The other meister's temper instantly flared at his reaction and she angrily tried to push past him and reach for the bowl. She grabbed a handful of the tiny, crimson colored berries, but Kid caught her wrist, trying to get her to drop them.

"Maka, please don't!" he pleaded, still chuckling.

"Why the hell not? Why wouldn't I resort to this sort of completely irresponsible tricks to 'soothe' myself as well, make myself happy?" she snapped back, managing to free her arm and stuffing them in her mouth. They tasted fairly sour, even slightly bitter and they were utterly flavorless. The blonde grimaced, but swallowed them stubbornly, ignoring the look of disbelief on Kid's face and the fact that he'd covered his mouth with his hand. He was still amused, though.

"I think this was very rude, Kid," Maka pointed sharply, swallowing hard and grimacing again as the taste lingered in her mouth. "You knew they were horrible and you did this on purpose! You know, if you keep acting like this and teasing me like this, this thing is so _NOT_ going to work!"

Saying that she stormed out of the room, slamming the door in her wake, and ran down the corridor. Outside the rain had only gotten worse, but the blonde didn't care that her already damp clothes were now getting utterly soaked. She was so angry, how dared he, just now when she'd finally admitted to herself that she… well…

"Maka, wait! I'm sorry, okay?" Kid caught up with her and turned her to face him. "I didn't mean to laugh at you, but it was just-"His words died on his lips and his face dropped as he saw the tears already sliding down her flushed cheeks, mingling with the rain droplets. "What's wrong?"

The other meister sniffed, repressing a shudder and pressing a hand flat on her own chest, while the other rose to brush against the side of the young shinigami's face. "I feel… I just can't… I can't fight it"

Kid's eyes widened and for a while which felt like an eternity he simply stared into her green orbs, completely baffled. And then, abruptly, he pulled away from her hand, scowling. The reaper ran a nervous hand through his dampening dark strands and took a step away from her, propping his hands onto the wet stone railing.

"Maka, you know I'm your friend and I'd do anything for you! I'd do anything to protect you and to take care of you, but you can't… you can't like me that way!" he said choking and avoiding her gaze. "It's just not possible! This is wrong, do you understand? I'm not human!"

The blonde nodded slowly, weakly, feeling as if she'd been stabbed in the heart. "Of course…" she whispered faintly, shrugging. "I-I knew you'd say that… after all, I am only a poor human girl. I don't have your strength, or your beauty, or your magic… I am beneath you in every way." Tears blurred her vision and she hid her face in her hands, wishing for nothing else than the sky collapse and crush her in that very instant.

"What? No! No, Maka, you got this wrong! That's not why… Maka, shinigamis were created into this world with a very clear purpose – to _serve_ and _protect_ human kind – and nothing else! Like I said, we don't… and we are _less_ than a human, how could you even consider… how could you consider _me_?!"

She removed her hands and opened her eyes slowly, only to see the infinite chagrin on her friend's face. He was in earnest – she knew – that was why he wasn't used to people doing things for him, or caring about him… Could it be that he was so oblivious to his own gifts, that he thought so low of himself, undeserving of her affection, precisely because he was a shinigami? It was heartbreaking.

"But do you want-…?"

"It doesn't matter what I want!"

"It matters to me."

Maka boldly stepped closer and cupper his face with both her hands, ignoring the tears which had begun sliding down her cheeks again, glancing up at him in a silent plea for the briefest moment. And then their lips met, shyly, hesitantly at first, then gradually more hungrily. She pressed her whole body flush against his, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, eager to feel more of him and subconsciously afraid that he was going to pull away again and say that this was wrong, that they shouldn't be doing it. But Kid only lifted her up so she could wrap her legs around his waist for better support and carried her inside, out of the rain.

But the blonde wasn't even aware of it, the next thing she felt was her own back being pressed against the soft mattress of the bed, Kid's lips still not leaving hers. But she wanted more, all the hurried, hungry pecks were just… teasing.

"Does this comfort you?" the shinigami whispered, his golden eyes observing her carefully. _Comfort? He does say the weirdest things…_

"Yes," the other meister whispered out of breath. "But I want more"

"Let me help you then," Kid offered, brushing his thumb over her lower lip and opening her mouth. He then placed his own mouth over hers, his tongue skillfully delving inside as his hands left her shoulders and Maka felt his nimble fingers beginning to undo the buttons of her dress. Her breath caught in her throat – now this was wrong, this really wasn't supposed to happen – but she was past the point where she could help it. Her own hands reached up to remove his cloak and the damp jacket of his suit as the wet garment was peeled off her slightly trembling body and replaced with the blanket. And then Kid pulled away, sliding off her.

"I hope this was not just because of those berries…" she heard him chuckle and her arm shot up to the side promptly, elbowing him as hard as she could.

"What the hell is so amusing about the berries anyway?" the blonde asked annoyed, as the young shinigami pulled her closer and nuzzled her wet hair.

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Now we should try to get some sleep"

"But Kid-"

"Tomorrow"


	13. Chapter 13

The raw stone wall was rough and damp under her fingers, but the air grew staler as she advanced blindly further and further into the depths of the cave labyrinth. The meister recalled the protruding, heavy smell of incense of that large ceremony hall where their wedding had taken place. It all seemed so distant, as if it had happened ages ago. But now she could not feel any of that, no particular smell, so that it could only mean that she was nowhere near it yet. Maka knew it had been somewhat of a rash decision, if not a down straight reckless decision. But the blonde had spotted the Older One walking down their corridor, towards the bowels of the mountain and she'd instantly made up her mind to follow him. She'd simply abandoned the food tray for dinner on the ground, in front of their door and had set in pursuit of the head Brother, keeping her steps as light as possible and maintaining a safe distance between them. Of course, the 'safe distance' was relative, for she didn't know how fast the man was, or how strong, in fact she knew almost nothing about him past the inherent fear she had felt towards all Brothers and Sisters ever since she'd found herself at the Temple. And Maka needed to know.

She had no choice but to grope forward, keeping close to the wall and her ears alert to the sound of the Older One's even, unhurried footsteps as he walked, careless and unsuspecting – or at least she hoped so. She couldn't tell rationally how she'd guessed where he was going, it was no more than a gut feeling, but it must have been him, the Older One, the one _The Three_ talked to, out of all their servants. He must have been the Kishins' favorite, he alone stood before them while others kept their distance and he alone had walked with her into the hall – which was nothing but a sinister, enormous tomb – where the Kishins dwelled.

Maka fleetingly thought about enabling her soul perception again, but most likely it was a bad idea. The first and the last time she'd tried it within the Temple premises, a while ago, the pain from the devoured souls' imprint was unbearable and besides, she could feel the abomination, the absolute horror which were the Kishins even without that. And she needed to keep a clear mind through this, not go mad with fear and pain.

The blonde took a deep breath silently, trying to relax a bit and steady the frantic beating of her heart. The thick darkness in which she could see absolutely nothing was maddening, having only the bare stone under her fingers while guided by a faint sound, but it didn't last long. Just as she had managed to recall, it wasn't a very long walk from their room to the Kishins' hall. A vague scent of smoke wafted towards her nostrils from somewhere ahead and the meister felt a sudden pang of fear. What if the Kishins could perceive her presence and know that she had followed their servant?

There was no door on that side of the hall, thus Maka was suddenly able to spot the flicker of the strange, blue flamed torches which were illuminating the Kishins' hall and gradually, as she drew closer, the Older One's massive figure standing out against the light as he walked inside. His footsteps came to a halt and the meister stopped too, very close to the doorframe and her body pressed flat against the wall which was shielded from the light, very nearly holding her breath. She could feel it again – that infinite wickedness, a very old but almost palpable evil, something so foul and suffocating that it almost made her physically sick. _I felt nothing like this with Asura! How could I possibly stand against them?! This is just too much, too much!_ She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to focus, to think past the panic and realised that The Three were now speaking, in that shriek of a voice which seemed to belong to one and to many in the same time.

"… not enough, not enough! Why have we bothered to make you this gift if you are unworthy?" the voice was saying, followed by something like a loud, pathetic wail which nearly made Maka jump from her spot. Gathering all her courage, she peeked around the doorframe, into the hall, trying to see what was going on. The pale blue light was brighter now and she could clearly see the Brother's ragged black clothes lying onto the tiled floor in a heap behind his body. Or at least she assumed _that thing_ was his body. His whole frame had taken a hunchbacked shape, his spine with much enlarged vertebrae protruding through the skin, which had darkened and now looked more like made of small, gleaming scales. The blonde muffled a gasp of horror at the sight, even if she wasn't able to see very much of him she didn't dare imagine how the rest of his body must have looked like. The Brothers weren't human, Kid had said, the one they'd killed hadn't been human either. _And they're very hard to kill…_

"I have been keeping a close eye on the young one, as much as I could, but I have discovered nothing. He may have outsmarted me and I was unable to… Forgive me!" the creature which had been the Older One lamented weakly.

"Fool! How dared you and to what purpose? A Death God is no match for you! Leave him to us, Key… we have enjoyed him so much before. Perhaps his new pet will die soon and he will be in need of another," the Kishins said, "then he would have to pay the price for it again…"

Then the voice laughed, a terrible, nerve-wracking laughter, and Maka shuddered. _"We can't think you have changed your mind, not after the price you have already paid for this pretty little virgin…"_ she remembered. What price had that been and what had they done to him? _And he's telling me nothing, nothing!_ Tears of sheer fury stung her eyes, but she couldn't allow herself to cry, to be weak, not now.

"…but no, it's not him we want. Ever since Brother Elgar died, we have been feeling it, Key… the presence of a soul which rebels against us, which fails to accept us as their master… If you want to prove yourself and have your own faults forgiven, Key, you will find this soul and bring it to us to devour it!"

"A soul? But I am so wretched, how could I find a simple _soul_ for you?" the Older One, whom the Kishins had called 'Key', asked fearful.

"It is close…" the voice hissed in reply. "It is very close… It is here, now! Bring it to us!"

Maka hardly had any time to react before the gruesome body which had been crouched in the middle of the hall twisted into an awkward crawl and lunged towards the exit. Barely managing to suppress the paralyzing panic, she willed her own feet to move, desperate to put more distance between her and the creature now set in pursuit. Running in the dark was much harder than walking in the dark, tracing the wall, and much noisier, but she did it anyway. She ran, as fast as she could, even if completely blindly this time. The blonde meister was aware that she was gasping for air and panting, quite audibly, but there was no hiding now, only running. She could clearly pick up a sort of growl behind her as the Older One advanced, faster than she'd imagined and still in that morphed, inhuman form.

 _Just run faster! Faster! I can make it back to the room before he catches up with me, I can-_ But then she stumbled onto something - probably a piece of stone fallen from the ceiling – and dropped face down, unable to catch herself on her hands and slamming her forehead onto the hard ground. It hurt and the darkness spun around her for a moment, before she lost consciousness.

* * *

"…find this soul and bring it to them to devour it… no, no!" Maka muttered, slowly coming back to her senses. "What? What happened to me?" She sat up brusquely, then stood from the bed, only to bump into her new meister, who stood with his arms crossed and a dark expression. _Oh hell, he's pissed…_ she knew, instinctively taking a step back.

"WHAT THE FUCK?! What the hell were you trying to do, Maka?" Kid shouted. "It was almost upon you, that thing! What the hell was that anyway?!"

"I just… wanted to know more about them, about the Kishins…" _Since you're not telling me half of it…_ Maka stared down at her boots as she talked, knowing he had all the right to be angry with her. She didn't know how she'd managed to escape being caught by the Older One in the first place, but she suspected that the young shinigami must have had something to do with it. So once more he'd had to come and save her, how embarrassing! The blonde took a deep breath and straightened her back.

"Kid," she said determinedly. "When I caught you drinking Black Water, that was quite stupid of you and I slapped you. And now, what I've done tonight… this was stupid of me. So I want you to slap me this time, as hard as you can"

The reaper raised an eyebrow and snorted. "That's just ridiculous! I'm not Black Star, I don't hit girls!"

"I'm not _a girl,_ I'm your fellow meister and… your weapon!" Maka snapped back angrily. "You should treat me as such!"

Kid sighed. "Maka, I do acknowledge you as my weapon and my fellow meister, but still," he said conciliatorily, "my hand is much heavier than yours. And I could never hit you." But the blonde's face remained impassible and the young shinigami rolled his eyes. "Fine, suit yourself…"

She inwardly braced herself and instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, but the blow never came. The reaper's fingers only patted her cheek lightly, before he pressed her flush against his chest, burying his nose in her hair. "Maka, just don't do that again, please… I was so worried! What if I hadn't made it in time?" he murmured, gently caressing the honey colored strands. "Now, tell me what you heard"

"I saw the Older One and I followed-" Maka began, but the shinigami pressed a finger onto her lips. "No, not like that," he said, sitting down on the bed, pulling the other meister down into his lap and resting his forehead against hers. "Relax… and let me _see_ everything."

The blonde obeyed, despite the initial confusion, followed by the confirmation that yes, her new meister could read minds if he wanted to. A rather disturbing thought, Maka concluded frowning, yet she made the effort to focus on the memory of what she'd seen and heard back in the Kishins' lair while Kid continued to stroke her hair soothingly, ever so gently.

"Well, I guess this is bad," he concluded after a while, "but we'll think of something. Don't be afraid"

The blonde sighed. "I know, I just… I just wish you didn't keep things from me, Kid. Not when I even let you read my mind. It's as if you're saying I can't handle the truth"

"I see…" the young shinigami said, in such a way that she could make nothing of the tone of his voice. "What is that you wish to know?" He pulled away and leaned against the headboard, looking expectant. Maka's gaze involuntarily slipped from his shaded golden eyes to his pale lips and suddenly a single thought took over everything else, although it _really wasn't_ important, but she knew it had been subconsciously pestering her since their wedding day.

"You've done this before, haven't you?" she blurted out before she could help herself. "The whole... kissing stuff, I mean. You must have, you're too good at it…" she added, instantly blushing and feeling beyond stupid for asking him such a thing. Of course it wasn't any of her business, but who had it been anyway? Liz? Patty? Both? That half-shinigami girl? Okay, Maka inwardly admitted, however reluctantly, she was jealous.

And Kid frowned, but it was only to mask his obvious amusement. _Gah!_ _By Death, how stupid! Stupid!_ Maka fidgeted awkwardly, glancing down at her hands, beyond embarrassed. How the hell had she managed to screw things between them so royally?

"Actually I can't say that I have, no," the reaper said at last, thoughtfully."I think that I am indeed 'good at it' as you put it, but that's not due to experience. There is an explanation for it, but I'm afraid it's a bit sinister. I don't think you want to hear it"

 _I totally had that one coming, now he's teasing me again!_ "You're my meister now, you can tell me anything," the blonde challenged, raising her eyebrow expectantly.

Kid cleared his throat. "I don't think you've ever heard about this, but a very, very long time ago reapers had a slightly different job than they have today. They…um… well actually there wasn't any 'list' and they weren't only supposed to reap the souls of evil humans and kishin eggs and so forth. Their job was to reap _all_ the souls. As soon as there was someone's time to die, a reaper would come after them and collect their soul. Of course, this didn't go exactly smooth, because people feared the reapers and would run from them and stuff, therefore the reapers were given this _gift_ and they all became very… I don't know if 'seductive' is the word, but… well… _skilled_ if you will. That's why I instinctively know what feels good to you"

Maka blinked. "And... it worked? _That_ made things 'go smoothly'?" she asked baffled.

"So I've heard"

A cold shudder ran down the blonde's spine and for a brief moment her old fears seized her again. "But that is… that is evil!" she pointed and Kid simply shrugged, nodding lightly. "Do you mean to say that if we were back then and it was my time to die… you would seduce me and then you would-" she paused, making a slicing motion across her throat, "reap my soul?"

Her meister grinned and sat up, catching the blonde in his arms just as she tried to pull away. "Are you afraid, Miss Albarn?" he purred. Yes, Maka told herself, there was something very dark within her friend, but it was also soothing, and thrilling, and addictive, and she would end up giving herself to it completely.

"Kid," she whispered softly, flinching as she felt his nimble fingers tracing every bump of her spine, "we might not be alive tomorrow…" Saying that, the blonde firmly grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it over her head in a single motion.

"I love you, Maka Albarn," the young shinigami murmured against her lips, pushing her down onto the bed.


	14. Chapter 14

" _The magic tool is right behind this door. Once we have it, we'll be free to leave Death City and go far, far away where no one will ever bother us. Where we can be together Maka, forever, just you and I! But we need the tool and only you can get it for me"_

_"But why, Kid?"_

_"Because only you have a Grigori soul"_

_…_

_She had done it, she would have done anything for him, for he was her friend, her lover, her everything. And now the scorching desert sun glared mercilessly over her helpless, disheveled form tied with thick ropes at the top of two high poles, drying her bitter tears even before they could slide down her face._

" _Maka Albarn, you have revealed your true nature as a witch and you are hereby sentenced to death for your actions against Shibusen!" Lord Death's voice thundered from below and the blonde could see that he was no longer his usual carefree self but a terrible, vengeful deity set to bring destruction upon those who dared disobey him. But then he seemed to hesitate, half turning towards his son, who stood nearby. "Kid, do you have something to tell me?"_

_There, for a fleeting, fragile second, Maka hoped._

" _No, father." The young shinigami's voice was calm and soft as he looked up at the blonde, his golden eyes cold and mouth twisting into a wicked, cruel grin which was meant for her eyes only. And it was too much, her heart broke into a million pieces and they were all sharp._

" _Why?" her pale, dry lips mouthed lifelessly, only to turn into a terrible scream, rising like a storm from her torn chest, so powerful that the ground trembled, the bright sky cracked and shattered and the scorching white light turned to darkness as she fell into an abyss of despair._

The blonde's eyes blinked, but she could not see anything. Her mouth was dry and her throat a tad sore, and she realised she'd been screaming at the top of her lungs only a moment ago.

"Shhhh, Maka, it's okay! You're okay, it was just a bad dream," she heard her meister's voice whispering soothingly as his arms held her tightly, but _his_ embrace brought her no comfort, on the contrary. She froze, almost forgetting how to breathe, as she felt nothing but pure horror.

"I'm not a witch," the blonde breathed against his bare shoulder, her hand raising and nails digging desperately into his flesh. His skin was velvet soft, but she could feel iron hard muscles underneath. "I'm not a witch, it was your fault! I did it for you, I did everything for you and you betrayed me!" Maka wanted to shout, but she had no strength left, she could only whisper. The reaper's body tensed, but he still held her close.

"Maka, you are still dreaming," he said softly. "Your soul is in a very dark place, please come back to me"

Her eyelids, heavy with tears, fell shut and her whole body simply slumped, feeling boneless. _Come back?_ "I can't come back… I am dead, Kid. You let them kill me. But I still love you, even like this, dead…."

Her meister tsked and pulled away, letting her bare body drop limply onto the mattress as he stood up from the bed. A moment later an ice cold jet hit her face, causing the blonde to sit up abruptly, gasping and looking utterly bewildered. Her eyes rapidly took in the familiar small room, now illuminated by a few flickering candle buds, the rough blanket she'd protectively gathered around her own body and Kid's light scowl as he sat down next to her, now wrapped defensively in one of his black cloaks.

"What-… What the hell, Kid?" she demanded, scrubbing a hand over her wet face and further into the now wet strands hanging around her face.

"I'm sorry about the cold water, but I just couldn't wake you up. You were having a nightmare and saying something creepy about being dead and stuff," he murmured apologetically. "Are you okay?"

Maka sighed and buried her face in her hands. Yes, it had been just a dream, she realised, but it had been so… incredibly vivid!"Yes, now I am… What…what did I say?"

"Would you care to tell me about it?"

The blonde shook her head. "No, I don't… think I can put _that_ into words… I can only let you see it, what I remember of it." She knew she probably shouldn't have, that it would only upset him, but hell, she wasn't going to keep anything from Kid, even if it was about her own fear. And she remained silent in turn, not daring to look up at her friend, when he pulled away after _seeing_ it all, without a word.

"I see," the young shinigami said after a while, thoughtful. "That explains a lot"

Maka flinched, her stomach cringing painfully. "What?"

"This is the Kishins' madness, their poison. You had this dream with a very clear purpose, I believe." He reached out and brushed a few damp strands away from her face. "Maka, you were right. It definitely seems that they do find our marriage suspicious, maybe they didn't at first, but the longer it lasts, the more suspicious they become… They already suspect there's someone here opposing them and this dream you had was meant to turn us against one another, just like those stupid berries"

Maka scowled. "What do you mean? I thought the berries amused you greatly!"

"The berries were an insult," Kid explained gently, pulling her closer."They are supposed to cure impotence. At first I thought the Older One, Key, had sent them to pick a fight with me, but now that I think of it, they were probably meant to make me believe you'd somehow complained about my performance and make me angry with you. But they don't give a _vitamin boost_ …"

The other meister hid her face in her hands again, blushing like mad this time. "No, I don't have any complaints about that," she grumbled under her breath.

"Come again?"

 _Gah!"_ I said I don't have any complaints about that!" Maka hissed, burying her nose into his shoulder for a change. _Mad. I must have been mad last night. Mad with lust, mad with passion. And with love, so much love._ It was almost frightening how well they seemed to fit together - his rings on her fingers, her small breast in the cup of his palm, their bodies into one another. And Maka felt a pleasant shudder at the memory of the sensory overload she'd experienced the previous night.

"Good," Kid chuckled softly, taking hold of her hand and kissing the inside of her wrist.

* * *

"I don't think this is a good idea…"

Maka was tense, so much that her muscles were getting sore. She had spent her whole day trying to act as if nothing had happened, careful to conceal the bump on her forehead under the black veil, but feeling constantly on the edge every time a Brother or even worse, the Older One would come close to her, even if the latter too behaved like the previous night had never happened. Or perhaps he had not realised it had been her following him to the Kishins' lair? There was no way of knowing, after all they were already suspecting her and Kid. The young shinigami had now confirmed her own fears that they were slowly but surely running out of time. He wanted to speak with his father again, but he'd somehow managed to break the bucket they'd used the last time and they needed a mirror. Maka had remembered the large mirror the Sisters had used when preparing her for the wedding ceremony, but it was dangerous, so dangerous to slip back to that room and use it, especially since it was so close to the habitations area. Her heart pounded like mad inside her chest, her hand gripping Kid's tightly as they slipped soundlessly into the darkness of the corridors. Fortunately, at least she remembered the way and no one seemed to be lurking around at that late hour. All that, and the accursed dream continued to linger in the back of her mind.

"There it is," the young shinigami whispered, rapidly locating the large, silver framed mirror despite the obscurity and hurrying to pull off the dark, dusty cloth covering it.

"So… do you think my dream was just that, a nightmare caused by the Kishins' madness?" she asked. "I just can't shake off this feeling that there's more to it…"

"There might be more to it, yes," Kid agreed, waving his hand to clear off the dust he'd stirred. "For example the reference to your Grigori soul - it could mean they know you have a Grigori soul and they want it for themselves"

"Yes, to devour it! At least that's what they told Key… And what about the magic tool? Do you really think there could be a magic tool which can only work with a Grigori soul? Or something like that?"

Kid turned around to look at her, not entirely surprised but clearly displeased by the idea, because a scowl crept onto his face and his mouth twisted into a grimace. "Well I really hope with all my heart that there is no magic tool involved, because frankly I have had it with this kind of bullshit." Sighing, he then turned back to the mirror and proceeded to dial Lord Death's number on its surface. "And I don't think we should mention any of that to my father, we wouldn't want him to get excited over unnecessary things…"

"Hello, Kid, Maka! We were beginning to worry about you two, it's been a while," Lord Death said in his usual carefree way. With relief, Maka noticed that her father did not seem to be around this time. "Sadly, I'm afraid I wasn't able to find out too much about the three Kishins there," he went on, "other than that the Kishins cannot be fundamentally different from the other Kishins we have fought before. So if you manage to get yourselves combat ready, I don't think there should be any problems. How's your training coming along?"

"Well that was very helpful…" Kid muttered under his breath. "The training is going really well, even surprisingly so," he added a bit louder, "I never thought Maka would adapt so quickly to weapon mode. So we're doing well, yes. But the Kishins already have their eye on us - they probably had from the beginning – so time is running out. And it's not only the Kishins we will have to face, it's also their _non-human_ servants, the nature of which we were yet unable to identify. I killed one of them a while ago and that didn't go smoothly at all…"

The older shinigami nodded thoughtfully. "I see, well, nobody assumed this would be easy…" he said. "But on a happier note, we managed to find Miss Nakatsukasa and your pistols and bring them back to Death City. They too have experienced complete memory loss and reversing the effects of the spell was a bit tricky, I'll say… And we've also got some information on the possible location of Black Star. Excalibur has offered to help on that matter, so I'm sure everything will be fine. No news of Mr. Evans so far, but we're working on it"

Maka's heart jumped and then sank back in a matter of seconds. So their friends were fine, they were alive! _But no news of Soul…_ "That's great news, Lord Death!" she said though.

"Indeed," Kid agreed, "At least the girls are okay. I don't know what to say about Excalibur though…"

Lord Death suddenly stooped forward, his white skull mask almost touching the mirror on his side, the dark hollow eye sockets trained intently on Maka's face. The blonde blinked, in complete confusion, fighting the urge to take a step backwards as it almost felt like her personal space was being invaded. But it only lasted one moment before the older shinigami straightened his back, an unreadable expression on his mask.

"Kid, do you have something to tell me?" he asked in a completely neutral tone, yet looking somewhat expectant.

"No, father," the young shinigami replied, "I've already told you everything we have discovered so far"

Lord Death remained motionless and equally mysterious, seeming to ponder inwardly. "Please take a close look at Maka's eyes," he said.

Kid frowned and turned abruptly to inspect the blonde's eyes in the dim candle light, as instructed, getting a light hold of her shoulders. And an equally puzzled Maka witnessed as his mildly confused expression gradually morphed into one of complete horror, his face dropping visibly and he mouthed a silent 'fuck'.

"What about now, Kiddo?" his father asked calmly from the mirror, waiting patiently for an answer.

Still facing his fellow meister, Kid squeezed his eyes shut and looked like the sky had literally collapsed on his head. He silently whispered another swear before taking a deep breath and turning to face his father, his hand rising up to give a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder of a pretty much terrified Maka.

"I can explain this…" Kid cleared his throat. "Father, Maka and I are married," he said in his usual dry, somewhat professional and completely emotionless tone.

Lord Death remained completely motionless in turn and seemingly unimpressed, but to Maka the whole thing looked terribly ominous. She gulped, unable to look at him, instead taking a sudden interest in her old worn boots. And then things got worse.

" _WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE MARRIED?_ " an all too familiar voice yelled (so he was there after all), but the blonde did not dare look up and face her father. "Maka Albarn, look at me! What is the meaning of this?! You're only sixteen!" _Right, I must have turned sixteen a few days ago, I'd completely forgotten about it… "_ And what am I supposed to tell your mother?! That my sweet little girl- no! This is _unthinkable_ , I demand an explanation right now!"

 _I love him, Papa…_ Maka thought, but didn't say it out loud. She doubted that her father could be reasoned with at the moment, he needed to cool off and get past the initial shock. Although… she had never seen him so pissed before.

"Oky doky!" Lord Death concluded, shoving his scythe aside from the mirror. "Well, I have all the confidence in both your capabilities and I know you can totally pull this off!" he said cheerfully. "Oh and Kiddo? You should really pray that the Kishins finish you off, because if I ever get my hands on you, it will be bad…"

Kid hurried and pulled the cloth back over the mirror, his eyes wide with horror and chewing absently onto his lower lip.

"Shit!" Maka whispered, only then realising she'd begun to tremble at some point. "Papa seemed superpissed…" she added, both her hands flying up to cover her mouth. "But how did he know… I mean…? Kid, what's wrong with my eyes?" she asked, suddenly worried.

"Huh?"

"I said –what's wrong with my eyes?" the blonde almost shouted, gripping his shoulders to shake him from his daze.

Her meister blinked, meeting her gaze and drew a deep breath. "Um… it's n-nothing… nothing serious, just the color changed a bit…" he stuttered. "Now t-there's a bit of… um… gold in it too…. But it's fine, it's not a bad thing, just… just don't freak out"

"Don't freak out?! DON'T FREAK OUT?!" Maka shouted, terrified. "What's going on with me, Kid? Am I… pregnant? Is that what Lord Death saw?"

"Wha-? No, of course not!" Kid tsked, scowling. "I wasn't born yesterday, Maka, I know a thing or two!" Her ran a hand through her hair, pushing a strand behind her ear and sighed. "Look, because, like I said, we are validly married and because now… well… we have consummated our marriage, you've become a half-shinigami."

The blonde gulped. "A… _half-shinigami_?"


	15. Chapter 15

" _A… half-shinigami?"_ There was no way in Hell Maka could wrap her mind around this one. All that she could do under shock was to shout some more.

"What do you mean 'don't freak out'?! What… what does that even mean? What will happen to me, Kid?!"

The young reaper closed the door of their small room carefully behind them and led her to sit on the bed. "Maka, nothing will _happen_ to you, okay? Nothing bad – just your eyes changed color and you're probably much stronger than you used to be, but that's all," he said soothingly.

"But… can I still be a weapon? By Death, what if I can't be a weapon anymore?!" In utter panic, she stretched her arm to the side and willed it to morph. To her surprise and relief, the blade shot out, considerably longer and broader than before, an intricate silvery pattern now wrought into the usual dark grey.

Kid laughed awkwardly, looking at the blade a bit wide-eyed. "Heh, weapon enough, see?"

"Oh well, _don't freak out_ ," the blonde couldn't help teasing him, genuinely thrilled by the unexpected improvement. Maybe after all it wasn't such a bad thing, becoming half-shinigami. That of course if she didn't take into account Lord Death's reaction and her Papa's. Maka morphed her arm back in human form and pulled Kid closer, hugging him tightly. She could feel the young reaper's distress in the obvious tension of his body. "Are you okay?"

Kid leaned onto her, burying his nose into the crook of her neck, and sighed. "All obvious good stuff aside, in case you didn't notice things are officially very bad," he grumbled. "He'll tear me to shreds, Maka"

The blonde dropped back on the pillows, pulling her classmate down with her and resting his head on her shoulder. "But… has he ever punished you before? Like… really bad?" she asked, running her fingers soothingly through his silky dark strands.

"No… not _really bad_. But then again, I've never married before, have I?" Kid grumbled morosely. "Last time he punished me was when I messed up Anubis' stupid pyramid, but he just wouldn't understand that I had no choice but to shoot every last piece of the bastard, he was just so fucking ugly!"

"Kid…!" the other meister chided softly.

"What?"

"Don't swear…"

"Sorry… But it's a relief, you know? I really find it relieving," the young shinigami pointed seriously, while the blonde couldn't help a smile, despite the situation. "Anyway, damned Anubis beat me and then my father shinigami-chopped the hell out of me because the fu-… because that pyramid was an outstanding and ancient monument and blah blah blah… _That_ was a very bad day!"

Maka involuntarily started wondering whether, now that she was a half-shinigami, she would start throwing tantrums as well. That was what the old beggar had said, hadn't she? That all shinigamis threw fits? She had remained silent, pondering, and it wasn't long before Kid looked up, searching her gaze questioningly.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, a bit concerned.

The blonde sighed and smiled reassuringly. "Can't you guess? You know, I've always been under the impression that you could read my mind," she challenged playfully.

"I was thinking that you're worried about your father being superpissed, but… oh. I see," he said all-knowingly.

"And what is the answer?"

Kid sat up abruptly, with an inquisitive gaze. "Maka, what exactly did that woman tell you about reapers, hmm?" he asked sternly, with a light scowl.

Maka gulped and chewed on her lower lip. _Great! I screwed up again! By Death, I must have a natural talent for that… "_ Um… she didn't say much, just that apparently they're all quite… temperamental?" she offered. "Anyway, she seemed to find it rather amusing, so it's not like… not like it's a bad thing"

"Good for her, I guess." Kid's scowl gradually melted into a wide smile and eventually he burst out laughing. "I'm glad you see it this way," he added at last. "And the answer is – no, probably not. In fact, I don't think you'll develop any kind of specific obsession, more likely you'll have a more general kind of craziness. You know, like my father"

So that was how things were – the blonde concluded – every time she would screw up with something Kid would promptly tease her in return, probably because he'd intuited that this always pushed her buttons. _And not in a good way…_ "Lord Death is not crazy," she grumbled humorlessly.

"Oh no? Well things are like this – we might not make it out of here alive, but my father's biggest problem is that we got married, and _your_ biggest problem is that you might start obsessing over symmetry or something. How exactly would you describe _that_?"

Maka rolled her eyes and sighed, hugging herself. "Of course _that_ is not my biggest problem! I was just trying to think of anything other than that Papa is superpissed. Hell, I've never seen him like this, although he's always had this thing, always trying to make sure boys kept away from me and stuff… Guess I really did it this time"

"Don't worry, he'll probably cool off after he's chopped me into very tiny pieces," Kid observed, settling back down next to her. "Well, that if there will be anything left for him to chop after my father is done with me…"

The blonde shifted, turning to face the young shinigami and cupping his face gently. „Don't you mean chop _us_ _both_ into very tiny pieces?" He shook his head. "Kid, I won't let anyone touch you," Maka promised, brushing her thumb against his cheekbone," You are my everything, you are in my veins," she whispered, lost into his golden gaze. "Good or wicked, you are mine and I won't let anyone hurt you…"

Kid kissed the tip of her nose and then her lips. "Maka, _my love_ , don't be afraid. I will never leave you. Never, I promise." His nimble fingers brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "You should get some sleep now. We don't know what will happen tomorrow"

* * *

_Why was the old woman there? It must have been close to midnight and she would be normally gone – to whatever unknown lair she had for the night – by now. But no, tonight the beggar had remained in her usual spot, by the terrace railing, and she was still waiting. The blonde noticed that her eyes were closed - had she died, alone and uncared for? No, she couldn't have, not now of all times._

_Maka couldn't concentrate on the practice anymore, she felt numb and heavy, too preoccupied with the subject. But suddenly she realised that the woman's eyes were open and she was watching them intently. Then she stood up, slowly and yet unexpectedly graceful, her body gradually abandoning the hunchbacked position it was always in, straightening in fluid motions. Her gray hair, dirty and tangled, darkened and fell down her shoulders black and shiny and finally her ragged clothes slipped off her now slender shape, instead replaced by waves of saffron colored silk, magically hugging her frame. There was a smug smirk on her now very youthful face, pale and eerily beautiful and her eyes - chocolaty brown ringed with gold – were full of disdain._

" _Who are you?" the blonde meister asked, her lips trembling, but she already knew. It was the half-shinigami girl Kid had told her about. The_ other _half_ - _shinigami-girl… The half-witch._

" _I could ask you the same," the stranger replied, giving Maka a quick, indifferent once-over, before turning her full attention to her meister. "Honestly, Kid, how many blondes do you have? They are all so_ awfully _dull!" she purred._

" _You should watch your mouth, witch. This is my wife," Kid replied, but his tone was neutral, it held no anger, no offence. He seemed rather indifferent to what the girl had just said._

" _Oh…" she replied, drawing even closer and letting her delicate, black-nailed hand trail from the young shinigami's shoulder down on his body."And what will you do to me, Death the Kid? Hmmm? 'Reap my soul'?"_

 _The witch laughed, seemingly curious to observe the blonde's reaction. "Oh, I see…" she added in the same tone, "You never told_ her _about me, have you, little shinigami? You never told her that I was here all this time, waiting for you, just for you. And that you're actually mine, that you're_ my _man"_

_Kid threw Maka a guilty look, biting his lower lip. "Come here, my dark prince," the beautiful witch said, turning his face to her and capturing his lips into a passionate, devouring kiss. When she eventually pulled away, she bit the young reaper's lower lip viciously with her feral sharp teeth._

" _You silly girl," she addressed the blonde meister. "Don't you know that all reapers are just huge hypocrites? I am one's daughter and another's lover, but ultimately everyone's dirty little secret… You are so naïve… but it figures, you are very young, little human. Now, you didn't think he would love_ you _, did you?"_

_Suddenly Maka couldn't think anymore, all she knew was the blind rage which had taken over her. There was no pain, just fury, a white hot, searing fury running through her veins like liquid fire. She wanted nothing more than to tear them both to shreds. Her right arm morphed into a blade as the meister lunged forward, shoving the brunette aside and shoving the weapon arm to the reaper's throat._

" _Get the hell out of my way, whore!" she yelled. "Is this true, Kid?! Were you with her, all this time?!" the blonde roared. He just shrugged, bored, and Maka's left fist instantly shot upwards, colliding with his jaw. "Did you sleep with her too? Huh? ANSWER ME!"_

* * *

This time the blonde sat up brusquely, her eyes wide open but fully awake. She glanced down in horror at her still morphed arm, then at the other side of the bed, but it was empty. She instantly panicked, hurrying to change it back to human form.

"Let me guess, you had another dream," Kid said and the meister looked up to see him leaning onto the wall, on the other side of the small room. He didn't look like he'd slept at all. "So… what have I done this time?" the young shinigami asked, motioning towards her scythe arm.

Maka collapsed backwards onto the pillows, terribly embarrassed by her dream reaction. _That_ had not been like her at all, she would never do such a thing, she would never throw such a tantrum, or hurt Kid, or shove such words in his face, no matter what he did! Or would she? Was that… her insanity? Was she that insanely jealous and possessive of her lover?

"I… think…" she began, choking, "I discovered that there's something really horrible about me… But I don't want to talk about it"

Kid sighed. "Maka, this is only the Kishins' madness, there's nothing horrible about you. If you don't want to talk about it, it's okay, but whatever it was, just think about it carefully, it might contain some important detail, just like the other dream"

The blonde turned and faced away from him, curling into a tight ball. "What are you doing awake anyway? Shouldn't you be getting some rest too?" she asked, her voice muffled into the pillow. She felt drained after all the powerful, violent emotions from earlier. And endlessly ashamed… and guilty.

"I thought I'd better keep watch in case something happened. I can feel something stirring, deep into the bowels of the mountain, something that wasn't stirring before. We have to be prepared. But you should get back to sleep, you're tired"

_I don't deserve him, I don't deserve any of this. By Death, I can't believe I'm such a harpy!_

"You know, Excalibur sent me flowers at some point…" Kid said innocently.

 _Great!_ Maka buried her face in the pillow and pulled the blanket over her head with an angry huff.

 


	16. Chapter 16

Maka dragged herself out of bed with difficulty and rubbed the back of her neck. She must have slept in an awkward position, because now all her muscles were sore and aching. Fortunately, she'd had no more dreams, but just the one had been bad enough. It had emotionally exhausted and worried her in addition to the current matters which actually should have worried her more. And the blonde felt all the more guilty since she knew Kid had almost not had any sleep at all, only in the early hours of morning the young shinigami had allowed himself a bit of rest. Hurriedly smoothing her ruffled hair with her fingers, the meister glanced down on his sleeping form with a sad smile before slipping out of the room to get breakfast.

It was still very early, before the sound of the morning bell and the Temple ensemble was quiet. Too quiet, Maka thought, seeing how the previous night Kid had said he'd felt something stirring in the bowels of the mountain. It must have been the Kishins, undoubtedly. But absolutely nothing was stirring now, not even the air. Maybe this was the calm before the storm, she wondered, speeding up across the large stone terrace on her way to the kitchens.

The everyday walking into the crammed, tiny space, suffocating with the smell of bad food constantly lingering in the stale air was a regularly distressing event for the blonde. The Sisters on duty constantly ignored her, but the Older One was there and he was always carefully watching, even when he was silent. Like now, yet his inquisitive gaze burned in the back of her neck. Maka hurried to pick up two bowls full of the usual disgusting stew and a few loafs of bread, and then darted out the door at top speed. Only when she reached their room the meister realised she'd completely forgotten to take any leftovers to the old beggar – who sat there waiting as usual – and glanced down guiltily at the food on her tray. Sighing, she decided that she'd take care of that later.

Kid was still asleep as the meister walked in with the tray and she felt bad for having to wake him up so soon. But they both had to go to work, even if they were inevitably waiting for something to happen. But was there really something going to happen anytime soon? _What now? What now?_ Maka couldn't stop wondering. Perhaps the Kishins were not yet ready to make a move. Yet they had ordered the Older One – Key – to bring them the rebellious soul whose presence appeared to be bothering them.

"Hey…" Maka whispered, sitting down at the end of the bed and gently stroking the young reaper's knee. "Come on, time to wake up!"

Kid stretched briefly and sat up, instantly letting out a displeased groan at the sight of the food on the table. He made a move to drop back onto the mattress, but the blonde caught him and propped his head against her shoulder."Hey… I want to ask you something," she said. _Like this is really important now, but I want to do it. Maybe just because it's not important at all…_ "Hold out your left hand"

He complied, half asleep, and Maka took off the skull shaped ring from her left hand and slipped it back on his middle finger. "There, now it's right"

"Wha-? No! Why did you do that?" Kid's golden eyes snapped open at the realization and he simply stared at his hand in horror.

"I wanted you to have one of your rings back," the blonde replied with a smile.

"But I don't want _one of my rings_ back!" he promptly protested. "What the hell, it's not-… I'm not symme-" He didn't get to finish his sentence before Maka silenced him with a prolonged kiss." Shhh… it's perfect like this. You are perfect. Besides, don't you want to do things right? And I want everyone to know that you're mine"

Kid rolled his eyes and pursed his mouth in a funny way. "Oh, in the light of recent events are you still under the impression that this information is not _public_ enough? Because it looks to me like all Hell has broken loose already." But he didn't sound like he was regretting anything, and the blonde felt a wave of warmth in her whole body.

"I'm sure it's not that bad," the other meister said, bringing his hand to her lips and lightly kissing his knuckles. "And no matter how bad it is, it's still more than I've ever hoped for"

* * *

"Wait," the reaper said, just as Maka was preparing to walk out the door for her daily duties. "From now on I won't let you out of my sight. It's too dangerous"

The blonde flinched at hearing this, not because she was terribly surprised by it – after all it was what she'd been expecting, for something, _anything_ to happen – but it was somehow like only now it had truly become real, a palpable threat. She breathed out, willing the knot in her chest to dissolve. "But… can we really do that and go unnoticed? We have work to do… and how will I know where you are, or rather which one is you? All Death Gods look the same, not to mention I'm not supposed to look at any of them at all"

"You don't have to do anything," Kid assured her, "Just go about your usual business. I will be keeping an eye on you at all times"

They walked outside on the terrace into the fresh spring air and Maka couldn't help letting her gaze wander over the mountain slopes, dotted with the first greens, with fragile branches laden with tiny light green leaves and the small white flowers she remembered from the year past. And it would have been almost beautiful if only it wasn't horrible in an absolutely heartbreaking way. And then she spotted the old beggar again, waiting as usual for her long lost love.

"Stop staring, Maka, she won't transform into some fairy tale beauty anytime soon," Kid stated and she could clearly pick up his hidden amusement.

The blonde instantly frowned – so her meister had probably been reading her mind again, most likely while she was asleep. _Gah, that's not fair!_ "You need to stop that!" she grumbled under her breath.

"Stop what?" the young shinigami asked innocently.

"You know what!"

* * *

It turned out to be a long day, which Maka spent being on the edge almost the entire time, while going about her duties. She knew Kid was there somewhere, guarding her from the shadows, but it brought her little comfort. The meister was used to facing whatever enemy looking them in the eye, but taking this kind of pressure from an unseen foe was something she was utterly unprepared for. Fear itself, the horror of it all, of all that which remained unknown to them was gradually gaining ground, creeping into her being and she was helpless against it.

 _I want it to end, by Death, let it end already!_ she silently prayed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to take this uncertainty much longer and almost envying the dead pilgrims whose bodies she took care of absentmindedly. Little did she know that even that simple task would very soon become too much to take.

The day was drawing to an end, it must have been, the blonde told herself, literally dragging her feet while checking the alcoves. She just wanted to go back to their room and collapse onto the bed. Apparently nothing was going to happen today, not today. But then Maka drew back one of the black silk curtains and gasped. A little girl was perched on the edge of the bed, her thin feet dangling down from under the simple white linen dress she wore. Her long blonde hair fell in soft, silky curls, down to her waist. She was the most beautiful child the meister had ever seen. For a few moments she simply stood there, dumbstruck, staring at the little girl who glanced down at the folds of her dress with an absent air.

"Maka? What's the matter?" Kid's voice brought her back from her daze and the blonde shook her head, trying to pull herself together. Maka turned abruptly, eyeing the white skull mask frightened, then drew a deep breath to calm herself, gripping his arm.

"Kid, there's a child in there! It's terrible, how could this happen?" she spoke quickly, almost choking on her own words. "I don't know who brought her, but we must get her out of there, now!"

The young shinigami pushed his mask up and peered from behind the curtain Maka was still holding up, observing the child in turn. "Stay here," he said in an odd voice which got the blonde completely confused. Kid stepped inside the alcove and sat down on the bed next to the little girl, whispering something Maka was unable to hear. The child looked up at him and a light smile crept onto her pale lips. Kid took off his ring and gently held up the girl's tiny hand while continuing to whisper to her, distracting her, and used one of the sharp teeth of the skull to sting the small pad of her thumb. She had no reaction whatsoever. Gently caressing the child's hair, the reaper stood from the bed and returned to the entrance.

"Maka, bring me a cup," he said, his featured strangely hardened all the sudden.

"What?! No!" The blonde was completely confused. "What do you mean?! It must be some mistake, she's only a child! Kid, she's only a child, she did not come here by her own will, she must have been brought here, out of… out of-"

"Out of mercy." He sighed, running a pale hand through his hair. "She's a leper. It's not manifesting yet, but…"

"A… what? What is that?" the other meister cried, unable, no… refusing to process what he was saying.

"Leprosy is an incurable disease. Whoever brought her here only meant to spare-"

But the blonde was already on the verge of hysteria. "No, no! NO! Kid, you can't! She's just a child, you can't!" she cried, tears now trickling freely down her face as she shook her head."Please, she's so little! PLEASE!"

The young shinigami reached out and pulled the blonde tightly into his arms, while she continued to sob and beg. "Maka, listen to me, she will have a horrible death. The nerves in her members are already dead, in a year at most she will begin to rot alive. Whoever brought her here did it because they didn't want her to suffer such a fate. And we can't let her suffer, it's too cruel, she doesn't deserve it," he whispered.

"But…" Maka whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut as tears continued to slide down her cheeks. At last she nodded, pulling away and heading towards the Black Water basin with numb steps. She picked a cup and proceeded to fill it to the brim, glancing absentmindedly at her own eerie reflection in the flickering light of torches.

"Maka, she will feel no pain," Kid said, taking the cup from her almost limp hand. "It tastes like a strong wine, a bit sweet even. And she'll just fall asleep… When it's all over I will take care of her, you mustn't touch anything, the disease is highly contagious. It will not affect me in any way, but you might get sick, even now."

The blonde remained standing outside the stone alcove, now staring in a sort of mesmerized daze as Kid sat down on the bed and pulled the little girl into his lap. She smiled again, a tiny hand reaching out to paw at the tassels of his cloak. It was obvious that she liked him, that she trusted him. Pale fingers gently smoothed down the golden locks as the child obediently brought the cup to her lips and drank. After that, Maka could no longer watch.

She turned around and froze in place, noticing the Older One now standing next to the basin, stern and motionless like an ominous statue, his dark eyes watching her from under the ragged hood. Terror gripped her, knocking the air out of her lungs, as the blonde expected him to shed his human appearance and transform into the hideous creature she'd seen in the Kishins' lair.

"Maka, what-…?"

The blonde flinched hearing her meister's voice and her hand involuntarily sought to grip his arm, but Kid pushed her aside roughly and stepped between her and the Kishins' favorite servant with a menacing air.

"Well, well… young shinigami. It seems you have more backbone than I thought, I was having some doubts about you actually doing it," the one called Key drawled. "But aren't you a bit too protective of your little pet?"

"Is there something you want, _mortal_?" the reaper spat, the poisonous tone which had terrified the other meister so much before returning in his voice. "Perhaps, to see what happens if you seek a fight with me?"

The head Brother let out a sinister, gurgled laughter. "Fight you? More like… put you back in your place, you've become far too insolent. Maybe allowing you to have your eyes and legs back was not such a good idea… Either way, it seems you'll have to find out what kind of gift my masters have made me."

Saying that, the man threw his arms to the sides, as he began to change, his back curving with a horrid sound of cracking bones as the ragged cloth enveloping his body was discarded. The blonde meister watched in absolute horror as the man before them swiftly turned into a creature resembling a large snake, covered in gleaming black scales. Hissing, it crawled towards them, the forked tongue springing out of its snout to taste the air.

Kid stretched his right arm to the side in a rather lazy move, making an almost inconspicuous calling gesture with his fingers which Maka understood perfectly. She jumped and morphed in mid-air, the enormous blade shooting out and, with a single swift motion of the reaper's hand, sliced through the hideous body, cutting it in half.

"Eww," he said dryly, while his weapon switched back to human form to see what was now left of the Older One. A perfect kishin egg.

"Maka, eat his soul. It will make you a stronger scythe," Kid asked and the blonde eyed the small reddish floating sphere with disgust.

 _Oh well… Soul said they have no taste, the kishin eggs…_ Maka told herself, picking it up with care and stuffing it in her mouth. The slimy taste instantly made her stomach turn, but she still forced herself to swallow. _Great! Guess he lied about that one…_ "This was easy, I guess," she observed.

"Yes… much too easy"


	17. Chapter 17

_Great! Guess he lied about that one… or perhaps it's an acquired taste?_ Maka felt slightly faint and nauseous after taking in her first soul and the sight of what had remained of the Older One wasn't helping at all. Surprisingly, what was left of the enormous, reptile-like body consisted of a mere handful of whitened old bones, since the flesh had practically disintegrated in a matter of minutes. _As if it had long become putrid… as if he had been dead for a very long time already…_ It wasn't as unsettling as a normal corpse would have been, particularly the corpse of that monstrous thing, but still… Her gaze snapped up when she heard Kid groan and the blonde meister saw him stooping and carefully picking something from the small pile of bones.

"What's that?"

The young shinigami sighed and rolled his eyes. "See, I really hate this. Ever since you had that dream I had a feeling… Damn it!" He held up his hand, shaking his head with a morose expression. A thin silvery chain was wrapped around his pale fingers and a sort of key was dangling at the end of it.

"Key!" Maka realised. "It's a key! And it was… inside him? That must be why the Kishins had called him Key!" She gasped, shaking her head. "Key! Key…. but he was the key to what?" _And why was this key hidden inside the creature known as the chief Brother?_

"It is obviously the key to a magic tool," Kid replied dryly, grimacing. "Which means… that there is a magic tool here somewhere, just as you suspected. And guess who makes magic tools?" he asked, beginning to tap his foot in annoyance. " _Fucking Eibon_ makes magic tools! For fuck's sake, I can't believe this!" he shouted, scrubbing a hand over his face.

"Kid, calm down. There's no need to jump to any conclusions just yet," the blonde pleaded. "Besides, you were the one who said we shouldn't mention anything to Lord Death about the possible existence of… of that"

The reaper snorted. "As if that would have helped us in any way, if anything it would have only made things worse. He would have said that, aside from the destroying the Kishins, our mission would also be to retrieve whatever magic tool lies around here and bring it to Death City"

Maka didn't understand what the issue was, just now. If there was indeed a magic tool in the Kishins' possession, then it must have been also a dangerous object, so capturing it would have only made sense. "Yeah, I guess, but…?"

The young shinigami stepped closer, sighing and placed his hands on the other meister's shoulders gently."Look, I've done this before, yeah? Gone to find magic tools and capture them before the forces of evil could get their hands on them, only to find myself, on several occasions, feeling confused, or guilty, or just dumbstruck upon discovering – completely by accident - my father's involvement in their creation. And our purpose has been from the beginning to get us out of this place and back home before we would consider any other measures, so why would I now risk _your life_ for something my father probably wouldn't even talk about?"

Maka reached out to brush her knuckles against the side of his face. "Oh Kid, you know I'm not made of porcelain," she said with a sad smile, "and the last thing I want is to come between you and your father. And shouldn't we focus that anger elsewhere? It was obviously Key who brought that poor child in here at the Kishins' orders and who knows, what if it was them who made her sick in the first place? I could never forgive myself if I didn't do everything in my power to make sure that such a terrible thing never happens again"

* * *

Once again, Maka found herself scooting blindly into one of the tunnels leading deep inside the mountain. She knew that they were in the right direction as the stone walls beneath her fingers were gradually becoming moister and she could even hear water trickling down in small unseen rivulets somewhere in the darkness.

"Does this have to happen _now_?" she wondered out loud, although aware that it was somewhat of a stupid question. Of course it had to be now – whatever was meant to happen had already begun with Key's death. Surely the Kishins must have found out by now that their favorite servant was dead. But maybe they didn't know who had killed him? Even so, it was unlikely that they would remain impassible.

"We're going after the blasted magic tool! We have to, isn't that what you were actually saying earlier?" Kid grumbled, his grip on her hand tightening as he pulled her forward a bit faster.

The blonde's stomach cringed painfully. "But Kid… I only said… I didn't mean to upset you," she whispered.

"You didn't upset me. I'm upset that the magic tool exists in the first place, and it exists because it was probably created by my father and his blasted friend Eibon and now they'd be like 'Oops! There's a magic tool which has fallen into the wrong hands, we must retrieve it at all costs so just go _fetch_. Oh, thanks a bunch!' Well they could at least realise that there's no damn merit in pretending you're out to save the world when you're actually out to fix your own fuck-ups!"

Maka gave his hand a light squeeze, feeling reassured as she felt the ring on his finger. "But… seeing how I am a Shibusen meister, should you be telling me all this?"

"Certainly, _Mrs. Death_ , after all this is the family you married into. Why should you be spared of any details?"

The blonde couldn't help but feel her cheeks instantly beginning to burn at hearing this. _Mrs. Death! Oh, by Death, did he really call me that?_ A smile crept on her lips involuntarily and she was grateful for the darkness, so that the young shinigami couldn't see her grinning like an absolute idiot. As if that wasn't the worst place possible for one to experience such happiness. _As fragile as it may be…_

"So…" the blonde meister said, clearing her throat to get past the previous surge of emotion. "What do you think the magic tool does?"

"I don't know, do I?" the reaper replied, once again sounding ill-humored. "But now I begin to suspect why the Kishins wanted your Grigori soul – the key to the magic tool isn't enough to open it, or put it in motion, a soul was required as well. I saw that before, the key of Brew had Eibon's own soul attached to it to make it function."

Maka shuddered. _No, that couldn't be…_ "But then… Eibon was dead, wasn't he? Doesn't it mean that I should be dead as well in order for the tool to work?"

Kid tsked. "Yes, but it's the Kishins who want to make the damned tool work, or to open, or whatever. Which means _that_ must not happen, under any circumstances! So we'll just try to get the tool and then… well I don't know what then, but they mustn't use it"

Much too soon they were at the door leading to the Kishins' hall and there they stopped, thinking what to do next. For one, Kid was sure that The Three were probably guarding the magic tool with their own presence, but that meant facing them head on if they wanted to get their hands on the tool. Having drawn that conclusion, he cursed some more.

"But… are we ready? And there's no way of knowing if there aren't any more 'surprises' awaiting inside their lair," Maka whispered, observing as the pale blue flames always burning in the large hall cast eerie shadows on the countless statues of Brothers and Sisters frozen as if in prayer.

Kid stuck his palms onto the wall near the door, then flattened his ear against it as well, all his senses alert and for a short while he just stood there like this, completely motionless. "This is so odd… I feel like they're asleep"

"The Kishins?"

"Yes. They slumber… but how can that be? Why now? Could it be that they haven't yet realised that Key is dead?"

" _There isn't much time! Take the ball! Free us!_ "

Maka flinched violently - she had heard that unearthly whisper as if it had been uttered in her very ear. Horrified, she gripped the young shinigami's arm, her body instinctively seeking his protection. "Kid, did you hear that?! Who the hell said that?!"

" _Take the ball! Free us! Free us!_ "

"Did they say 'take the ball'?" Kid wondered out loud, frowning. "What _ball_? Oh well, I guess we'll have to find out…" Saying that, he cracked the door inconspicuously and pushed through the opening. The blonde wanted to protest (why the hell was he rushing in like this?), but it was too late and she couldn't risk making any more noise by speaking, so she just crept behind him silently, almost holding her breath.

The hall seemed to be completely empty, except for the bizarre statues and the unlit portion in the back. In fact, it was impossible to see what was there, what lay concealed in the shadows. But no, wait… Maka thought, squinting and momentarily ignoring the mad pounding in her chest. There was _something_ there, like a very pale, barely there flicker, not a flame but rather something like an object reflecting light.

"Kid, look!" she whispered, pointing in the direction of the peculiar sight. "Over there! What do you think that is?"

The reaper didn't answer, instead he simply _poofed_ away from her side (a magic trick Maka suspected he employed often and she for one found it rather annoying), only to return a few moments later holding a small crystal sphere in the cup of his palm. The pure, translucent object had no other flaw than a sort of hole, visible as it was running right through its core. _A keyhole._

"I believe this is the ball that voice was referring to," he whispered back. "It's the magic tool. The Kishins are there, I can feel their presence, but like I said, they're sleeping. There's no knowing for how long they'll be asleep though, therefore we must hurry and leave. Now"

* * *

"But I don't understand!" Maka argued, as they sped up back through the corridor leading back to the habitations area. "This is very weird – them sleeping and all - and _what_ _the hell_ was with that voice? Why did it want us to take the magic tool? And how do you know it's not a trap of the Kishins?"

"That voice is familiar, I've heard it before, in my sleep," Kid explained hurriedly, "But it wasn't really saying anything, just asking for help, asking to be freed. At the time I simply assumed it was a lost soul which had escaped devouring but was still trapped between worlds. I knew that I couldn't help it so I chose to ignore it"

Maka blinked in confusion, slightly inclined to snap at him. If only he hadn't kept so many things to himself! "And now?"

"Now it becomes clear that the voice belongs to someone else who wants the magic tool for themselves, but never had the means (or the balls) to get it themselves and they needed us. Not a bright perspective, we could have done without another enemy…" the reaper grumbled, causing the blonde to shudder at hearing this. _Another enemy? Aside from the Kishins and their servants?_ Her meister was right – the damned magic tool was a new and terrible complication they could have done without. She didn't understand the nature of Lord Death's involvement in its creation, but she felt that Kid had every right to resent it. She had no idea what the magical crystal sphere could be used for, but it sure was a magnet for trouble.

And then the blonde meister forcefully opened the door leading outside on the terrace and her breathing stopped.

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

Night had come and an eerie moon hung up high in the skies above, casting its pale rays onto the large stone terrace and onto the figures crowded onto it, motionless and expectant, with a sinister vibe about them. Upon the sight, Maka's first impulse had been to try and turn back inside, but it was too late. She had only bumped into Kid who was right behind her and now all she could do was to stay pressed to him, her heart pounding madly inside her ribcage and hands fisted into the fabric of his cloak. And he wasn't planning to run either.

There they were, all the Death Gods living at the temple – and the blonde had never realised they were so many – gathered now outside, waiting for something. Waiting for _them_ , no doubt. She flinched violently when the closest hooded, masked figure took a step forward and reached out with a bony, blackened hand.

"There is but little time," the Death God whispered faintly. "We have made _them_ sleep, but soon they will wake! Give us the ball! Set us free!"

 _They? They did it? But I thought… that their minds were gone… "_ Kid, do you think we should trust them? What could they really want the tool for?" Maka whispered.

But the young shinigami didn't answer. He pushed past her, shielding her with his body as he took a step forward, holding up the accursed crystal ball which was the Kishins' magic tool. The blonde could tell he was tense like a bow and could feel the chagrin within him, for it was no real anger, just chagrin, almost disappointment. She waited for him to speak, but Kid did not say anything. Instead he simply relaxed his pale, delicate fingers, letting the magic tool slip from his hand. The ball landed onto the stone slabs and smashed into a million tiny, sparkly shards, with a startling noise.

"Oops! You wanted this?" he asked bluntly, oblivious to the unanimous gasp his gesture had caused.

"Kid!" she cried, unable to understand what he'd just done. Maybe the tool was important, maybe-

"What?"

"What the hell is _that_?!" the other meister cried again, clinging onto his arm and all previous questions forgotten as she pointed at the grayish fumes now emanating from the remains of the magic tool. But to her surprise, they did not scatter randomly in the wind. Instead, they split into a multitude of thinner ghostly spirals and flew into the bodies of the Death Gods present, like a breath of life long lost and now magically returned. Maka saw the figure who had reached for the tool hiding its masked face in its bony hands, sighing loudly, in relief. "At last… we are free," the Death God seemed to say, although the blonde could hardly make out his voice now, it was like a faint whisper of wind.

Suddenly there was a silent commotion among those present, as the old beggar had appeared out of nowhere and pushed her way through the crowd, as fast as her old legs could carry her. The black veil had fallen off her head and her grey, tangled strands were windswept and awry, but she didn't care.

"Grigori… you're alive!" the old woman whispered, nearly out of breath. "For so long I have been waiting for you… it's been… a very long time…" Tears were now running freely down her dirty, wrinkled cheeks as her trembling hand rose to remove the cloaked figure's white bone mask and peel back the black hood. And then Maka saw that the Death God was a young man, with pale skin and raven hair streaked with white just like Kid's, and very beautiful.

"And I you," he said, and where his gentle hand touched the woman's cheek the skin instantly began to smoothen and lighten, the transformation gradually and rapidly taking over her whole body, until she was young again and very pretty, somewhat like in the blonde's dream, as young and beautiful as her beloved was.

 _So she was telling the truth! She had been waiting for him all along, and now…_ "Kid, what is going on?"

But the young reaper wasn't paying any attention to the reunited couple. Instead he pointed to a sort of vortex, like a whirlpool of light which had mysteriously appeared at the far end of the terrace and where the other Death Gods were now headed. "They're leaving, Maka," he said seriously and with a surprising tinge of sadness. "…you should go with them. Here, I'll show you how you can summon Beelzebub once you're out of here"

The blonde blinked, unable to comprehend what he was saying as she stared dumbstruck at his raised hand. He was explaining something, but she couldn't hear a word. She couldn't make another word past what he'd just said.

"What … did you say?"

"Maka-"

" _WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY!?_ "

Kid shook his head, gripping her shoulders. "Please, there isn't much time! They're all leaving because this is a fight they're unlikely to win! If you stay here, you'll die! And I want you to leave, please Maka, that's all I'm asking, just stay alive, for me! Please!"

"No, no, NO! You knew this, you _fucking_ knew! You knew _everything_ and wouldn't tell me any of it! Why aren't you coming with me then, huh? Why do you want to fight if you can't win?! Just because your father said so? He just… I mean I'm sure he wouldn't want this, you're his son, Kid!"

Kid snorted angrily, pulling away from her. "I'm his fucking _tool_ , Maka! Me and the crap Eibon has created!"

" _I DON'T CARE!_ _YOU'RE MY FUCKING HUSBAND_!" the blonde shouted, running her hands through her hair desperately, as anger mixed with panic washed over her. She could not, she _would not_ lose Kid. "And what the fuck are you thinking anyway?! How the hell are you going to fight them without a weapon? Are you out of your mind?"

She was so angry and just simply exhausted that a wave of dizziness made her vision blur and everything almost spin for a few moments, before the meister could pull herself together and notice the eerie silence which had fallen once more. The terrace was now empty under the cruel moonlight and the air was still. Everyone was gone and the vortex was gone too. Kid was crouched down on the stone slabs, holding his head in his hands without saying a word. _He's probably mad at me…but seriously, what the hell?_ Maka squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, taking a deep breath. She should have said something, but what? _By Death, this is such a bad time to have this argument! Or any argument… Why the hell is he such a handful? But I love him, how could he possibly think I'd just leave without him?_

"I never wanted to hurt you," Kid finally spoke, almost causing her to flinch. His voice was strained, choked, it was obvious that he was suffering. And Maka had never wanted to make him suffer, ever. She kneeled down in front of him, reaching to cup the side of his face and make him look at her.

"Then don't hurt me," the blonde said as gently as she could. "Don't leave me! I love you, don't you understand? Can you still not believe this?"

"I believe you. I just wish I could keep you safe…" the shinigami whispered and Maka couldn't help but lean and place a quick peck on the tip of his small nose. By Death, he was so sweet! She could spend an eternity just gazing into the large golden pools of his eyes. The blonde hastily pulled him up to his feet, wrapping her arms around his neck as she kissed him passionately, desperately even. His arms holding her fragile frame tightly, just like that, was all she would ever want, all she would ever need to be able to keep breathing.

But then suddenly the ground began to shake violently, out of the blue, startling them both. Very soon they realised it wasn't just the ground under their feet, the whole mountain was shaking, causing larger and larger chunks of rock to roll down the slope from above and smash down onto the terrace. They were now standing at the very edge of it, near the gates which only opened for pilgrims and would never open for them, but it wasn't any safer than anywhere else. Horrified by what was happening, Maka briefly wondered if this was how it was all going to end, whether they'd end up crushed by stones before they even had a chance to confront the Kishins. But there was no escape, all they could do was to wait.

"The spell wore off at last and _The Three_ are awake now," Kid observed. "Don't worry, they won't let us die crushed like this, it would be too easy, after what we've done. They'll have nothing less but tear us to shreds themselves before they devour our souls"

Well, that was awfully reassuring, the blonde thought, observing the unfolding disaster. But only when the large wooden doors of the Temple collapsed, followed by more crumbling stone, did she realise that the whole portion of the mountain where the Temple was located was about to go down, the whole labyrinth inside was caving in with the horrible earthquake.

"But…" She couldn't help thinking of the Brothers and Sisters trapped inside the habitations area, sentenced to be crushed, every single one of them, probably in their sleep. But they weren't human – the meister reminded herself – none of them were human anymore. Most likely in truth they had all died, a long time ago and she could feel nothing but an infinite sadness and a dull ache at the thought of all those lives lost, wasted only to appease the Kishins and serve to fulfill their horrid feeding rituals.

"But this doesn't make any sense!" she shouted, trying to cover the infernal noise. "Why would they destroy the Temple? Why would they kill all their servants?"

"Without the Death Gods there can be no Temple. Not here anyway. Now all they want is revenge," Kid said, holding her tightly as the blonde buried her face into his shoulder, waiting for the whole turmoil to be over.

* * *

And over it was, sooner than she'd expected. The whole infernal chaos did not last long - indeed it was as brief as it was destructive – before the eerie silence settled back around them, this time more ominous than before. Maka looked up to see that, where the Temple mountain had stood before, tall and deep, now lay a vast open space of blackened stone slabs covered from place to place with random piles of debris. It… just wasn't possible. She turned and glanced past the terrace railing, at the slope below and the valley unfolding downwards, into the plain fields marking the horizon. That piece of landscape had remained the same, only the Temple of Death had disappeared, like an evil dream crumbling at the arrival of dawn.

But the only thing which had not disappeared, which had endured, were the Kishins. _The Three_ were still there, Maka knew, since she could now feel their poisonous presence stronger than ever. And now they would finally show themselves, because there was no place left to hide.

"Get ready, it's time," her meister warned, his gaze anxiously sweeping over the seemingly empty space. They were both on the edge, the tension was almost unbearable.

"Honestly Kid, you shouldn't worry, please don't worry about me, I'll be okay!" Maka said without much thinking, but trying her best to sound reassuring. "After all, it was me who defeated Asura, remember?"

Kid just buried his face in his hands. "Oh… thank you," he grumbled humorlessly.


	19. Chapter 19

Maka glanced over the expanse of barren, darkened slabs dotted from place to place with piles of stone. For some reason it was getting cold and a sort of bizarre fog was rising from the ground, blurring the view. The blonde was beginning to feel chilly in her simple dress and hugged herself. This wait was maddening. Where were the Kishins? Why weren't they showing themselves already? Kid had fallen silent again and the other meister wondered if he'd been really bothered by her mention of defeating Asura where he had failed, or whether he was pondering on something he simply wasn't telling her. _How was he thinking of defeating the Kishins without me in the first place? Because if he was ready to send me away but stay here and fight them, he must have had some sort of plan…One he's not telling me about, obviously…_ And Maka found herself gritting her teeth in annoyance at the thought that the reaper was probably keeping things from her because they involved putting himself in danger while treating her like she was made of glass. But she would not snap at him again about it, right now he needed to have her close, he needed her support.

"Kid…I… I'm sorry," she began, uneasy, her fingers creeping shyly on his arm. "I never meant to make it sound that way… I just wish you'd trust me more. I'm not a complete disaster, you know. And I'm not afraid, as long as I'm with you I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Huh?" The young shinigami turned around to look at her with the kind of confusion of someone pulled back from deep thoughts. And unlike her, he actually looked quite scared, if only for the briefest moment. Upon noticing his expression, the blonde flinched.

"Kid? Are you okay?"

He sighed, letting out a deep breath, like he had been holding it, and nodded slowly. "Yeah, I was just-" He stopped abruptly, turning around once more, rapidly, his gaze set upon something Maka was yet unable to see. "Maka! Weapon form! NOW!" he shouted, reaching out to her.

 _What?_ But the blonde knew better than to waste any time. Launching upwards, she rapidly transformed in midair, being immediately caught by her meister's firm hand. Her senses were even more alert in full weapon form – which was a bit of an oddity since she wasn't doing the actual fighting herself – but she still couldn't detect what exactly it was that was happening all the sudden. "Kid, what's going on? I can't see anything!"

"There," the reaper pointed in the direction he was now watching intently, holding her handle tightly with both hands. It was even colder now that her body had turned to sheer magic metal and Kid's hands were cold too, but she felt a strange sort of comfort seeping through her the moment their souls became connected and began to resonate as one. And then she saw _it_. At first she thought it was a column of dark grey smoke rising from one of the piles of stone, from where it had broken through the very ground, thick and impenetrable, but no, it was a _body_. A serpent like body soaring upwards interminably toward the cloud laden sky, covered in a myriad of tiny steel-like scales shining in the pale light. _What… the…hell…?_ The head of the creature was already too high up to be visible, but Maka knew it would descend any moment now, seeking to take them by surprise. And all the sudden the empty space where the Temple had been became very small compared to the sheer size of _that thing_.

"Oh…" Kid groaned, glancing upwards with a morose expression. "This is gonna suck"

* * *

He jumped backwards, as far away as he could from the enormous creature which still continued to erupt from what had been the cave floor. Taking a deep breath, he then suddenly decided to go for a blow. "Maka, we're going to hit them in full, now, before they figure out what's going on!" the reaper shouted. "Remember, they don't know you're a weapon!" Saying that, he lunged forward, driving the scythe with full force into the enormous body. But the blade barely scraped the armor-like scales, leaving no slice in its wake.

Kid landed on the other side on one knee, then immediately rose and turned, as a sharp hiss resounded unexpectedly behind them. If she could, Maka would have gasped at the sight of the three hideous heads now facing them directly. The hiss turned into an open, ferocious and simultaneous beastly growl as the three heads roared, showing dagger sharp teeth.

"BY DEATH!" the blonde screamed inwardly, knowing that Kid could hear her, but it didn't matter. "What the hell is this thing?!" The Kishins looked more terrifying than anything she'd ever imagined, let alone seen before.

"A beast of ancient times, supposedly long extinct. It used to be called _'the eater of Death Gods'_ , that's why they all left," Kid explained with unexpected calm, almost resignation. But fortunately, her meister was apparently unfazed by the sight and he promptly swung the scythe as hard as he could in the direction of the nearest head, just as it was preparing to attack them. This time the blade clashed against the teeth, before sinking into the apparently softer flesh of the neck, causing black blood to come out gushing, followed by a horrible growl. The injured head seemed to choke, but the others instantly moved to attack. Suddenly, Maka realised they were sent flying, as Kid had been grabbed by one of the other heads and tossed away.

"Damn it!" the young shinigami grumbled as he landed on his back, colliding painfully with a pile of stones. The blonde saw that pieces of both his cloak and sleeve were torn and his left arm was bleeding.

"Kid!" she whispered, oblivious to the fact that she herself could feel something like a sharp pain into her side. It must have been due to shock or something, Maka told herself, a weapon could not be actually damaged in combat, it was the meister who got all the blows.

"I'm fine," the reaper replied quickly, drawing a deep breath as he pulled himself up. Just in time, for the other two heads of the Kishin lunged forward to strike. Kid managed to jump to the side and avoid the open mouth aiming to grab at him again and drove his weapon down as hard as he could. Bones cracked and flesh tore with a disgusting sound, but the head dropped on the ground, severed from the rest of the hideous snake-like body. Maka could hardly feel any accomplishment, her blade being currently drenched in black blood. Being a full weapon sure was a messy business and clearly required a strong stomach. And there it was again, the pain in her side, impossible to ignore this time. A rapid check revealed that there was a scratch on the side of the blade – where the beast's teeth had scraped against her – and where now the black blood had infiltrated. Now on top of the stinging it was giving her somewhat of a burning sensation. But no, it didn't matter – she would grit her teeth and endure it – she could not, _would not_ fail Kid.

Now the Kishin was furious – it had lost one head and another hung sort of withered after it had been stabbed – and the remaining one had become vicious. The enormous snout, now closed, swung like a mace, swiping the reaper off his feet and sending him flying again towards the other end of the former Temple grounds. Maka was torn from his hand upon the impact with the hard ground and she fell down, slamming against the hard slabs with a striking clatter. And that hurt too. _Oh, by Death! I'm fine, I'm fine, it's nothing! I'm okay!_ It was beyond frustrating that she had to remain in weapon form and simply lie helpless on the ground as her meister was struggling to pull himself up, instead of running to help him. But Kid was strong and resilient, she needed to have faith in him that he was going to be alright.

And he was, sort of – the young shinigami crept towards her and gripped the handle firmly. "There, are you okay? I've got you-"

But then Maka saw the remaining head diving at incredible speed and biting down on the reaper's shoulder and side, the horrid fangs sinking into his body, tearing flesh and crushing bone. Kid screamed in pain, yet his good arm shot swiftly and swung the scythe, driving the blade into the attacking head, causing it to withdraw and release him.

"MAKA! Maka, can you hear me?! Maka, answer me!" His voice was faint and distant at first, as if coming from a dream, before becoming clear and loud again. And then the blonde realised that for a short while there she had lost consciousness.

"Kid… I think… I'm hurt… it hurts…" By Death, she hadn't meant to sound so pathetic! But her voice was shaking and the meister realised in utter horror that she had reached her limit.

"Switch to human form, now," the young shinigami said softly, "you can't go on like this"

Maka obeyed mechanically, her exhausted body leaning against him as he was kneeling on the ground. The Kishin had apparently retreated, but squinting hard enough through the fumes still emanating from the ground, Maka saw that the remainder of his body and his severed head had begun to morph, gruesomely splitting and transforming.

"Oh. Fuck." Kid sniffed and shook his head, watching how the Kishin parts had now shape shifted into at least a dozen of several smaller snakes. But they were just as dangerous looking and they were crawling in their direction.

"We can't defeat them… they're too many," the other meister breathed out. She had her palm pressed to her side, where the pain came from and where she could even feel a deep, bleeding gash, but she refused to look at it, to acknowledge it.

"No, not this way we can't… I need m-more blood," Kid stuttered, propping himself onto his palms wearily. "Maka, morph your right arm, now. I need a sharp blade"

The blonde shook her head, much too tired to actually show her shock, but tears beginning to well from her eyes nevertheless. _What on earth is he saying?_ "NO! What… what are you talking about?! You're already wounded badly! What do you need blood for?! Listen to me – I'll fight it myself, somehow… "She paused to draw her breath. "I won't let them touch you, Kid! Do you hear me?"

"No, listen to me… The Kishins like my blood – it will slow them down, enough for the spell to take effect…"

The blonde scowled, now completely confused. "What do you mean? What spell? Have they not restricted your magic?"

Kid shook his head, sniffing again and muffling a coughing fit with a dirt smeared hand. "I cannot use any kind of _reaper_ magic, it's true… but I can use the worst magic of all, even if it destroys my soul, but I don't care! I won't let them kill you…"

Maka only gripped his good arm tighter, shaking her head, oblivious to the fact that the snakes were inching closer to them, hissing menacingly. They would be upon them any moment now, they were trapped, beyond escape.

"Your arm, now!" Kid demanded, almost shaking her and the blonde obeyed absentmindedly, as everything went past her momentary comprehension. She saw the young shinigami slice his wrists open with her own morphed arm and begin to chant something the other meister could not understand. His head fell backwards and his eyes turned a full black as blood poured from his wounds and down onto the ground in crimson rivulets, ever growing and beginning to form a sort of pattern, reaching in the direction of the snakes. The blonde watched, blinking sleepily, as Kid's blood, countless ruby red drops now sparkling oddly in the pale light, ran across the slabs gradually forming a large web-like and intricate pentagram all around them.

The snakes halted their advance, still hissing menacingly and their muddy green eyes shining malevolently. But they were already caught inside the magic web and when the droplets of blood suddenly burst into fiery flames their hissing turned to shrieks of agony as they began to burn. The flames were horribly hot and the smoke choked the blonde, but she remained motionless, still holding Kid's now limp body, no longer caring if they would consume her too eventually.

But the fire soon died out, leaving nothing but ashes all around. Maka lifted her head and glanced around indifferently, numb, to discover there was nothing left of the Kishins and their evil magic. Now the sky had cleared up, the dark clouds were gone, revealing a bright blue and even a few gentle rays of sun. But it wasn't worth it, not this beauty, not this peace, this serenity, none of it. And the sun would never warm her again, because the only one she had ever loved with all her heart, with all her soul was no longer breathing. Her fingers absentmindedly caressed his cold cheek as her world sunk into darkness.

"… free now. Summon Beelzebub…"

Green eyes squinted and narrowed as the blonde meister struggled to focus and pull herself out of numbness. But then a sharp surge of pain in her side instantly reminded her of her condition and she doubled over, clenching her jaw as she pressed the wound.

"I… fucking… hate this…" Maka shook her head and it took her another few moments to realise the words had not been hers. Once, because she hardly ever swore like that and second because the voice resounded again - however faint - and she felt Kid's fingers weakly squeezing at her arm.

"KID!" she cried, as reality sunk in. He was alive – barely, but he was. "Kid, open your eyes! Look at me! By Death, I can't believe it!" she whispered, cupping his face with both her hands. But the shinigami's eyes remained closed and he only murmured some more profanities, to which his wife couldn't help rolling her eyes.

"Don't worry, my love. I'll get us home!" she promised, smiling in relief.


	20. Chapter 20

Maka blinked sleepily in the warm afternoon glow, the golden light pouring in through the window near her bed half filtered through her eyelashes. The blonde meister was so tired, past the burn out of her body she'd strained past any human limits, but it didn't matter. She lay in bed, even though most of her wounds were fully healed now, in an accursed state of numbness. She was _home_ , although she had no memory of how she'd gotten here in the first place, and nobody was telling her anything, beyond the same tedious few words – that she should rest. And rest she did, she had been falling in and out of a sickly sleep which never allowed her to regain full consciousness. But now at least she was a bit more aware and could tell that her father was there, the Death Scythe's long, slender fingers gingerly caressing his daughter's hair.

"Are you mad at me, Papa?" Maka asked, still staring out the window, albeit blankly, unable to focus on the view.

Spirit gasped, or she thought he did. "Oh, no! No, sweetheart, of course Papa is not mad at you!" he blurted out, in a hurry to reassure her, instantly pulling her into his arms. "Papa could never be mad at you!"

Unconsciously, the blonde leaned into him – Maka had never been close to her father, ever since her parents had divorced she had never trusted him enough for that – but now, for some reason, his solid frame, his strong, familiar body brought her a much needed sense of comfort.

"Help me, Papa…" she whispered, forcing her eyes to remain open, because right now she did not have the strength to face the darkness waiting behind her eyelids if she were to close them. "If he dies, my world will end"

The Death Scythe only pressed his lips into her hair in reply, his large, warm hand soothingly rubbing her fragile shoulder. "My little Maka, don't be afraid. Papa is here with you"

* * *

"Good thing I know how to prepare a damned chicken soup, because all _you_ can produce is fried fish! Oh, I'm sorry, _burned_ fish!" resounded a familiar voice in the hallway, a certain voice Maka had thought she'd never get to hear again, before the door of her small bedroom was cracked slowly and only to allow her partner to slip inside.

" _Soul_?"

The white haired scythe placed the steamy bowl of soup he was currently holding on the nightstand and gave her his trademark shark toothed grin. "In the flesh," he confirmed, before leaning to embrace her tightly. "I would have come to see you earlier, but your father and Dr. Stein both said you were too weak to get any visitors, not even cool ones like me!" he added, pulling playfully at a strand of her loose hair.

The blonde blinked, a bit puzzled, as her pale lips fought to form a faint smile. "By Death, Soul, I thought… thought I lost you… What happened? How did you get back?" she asked as she took the bowl from his hands and took a tentative sip. Compared to what she'd eaten in the past year, the taste was simply divine.

The scythe boy sighed, but kept smiling. "It's a bit of a long story actually and I still can't believe it's been more than a year since… since we were separated. But Blair found me and brought me back. With this occasion I found out that she'd put a spell on me so she'd always know where I was or if I was in any danger. What can I say, she couldn't resist me"

"Blair? Wow…" The blonde closed her eyes and sighed in relief, a burden lifted from the heart. At least Soul was fine and he'd come back to her. As for him and Blair, she'd always secretly suspected that they were – despite all the pretense they kept and of course, despite the fact that the purple haired witch girl was actually _a cat_ – an item. Having concluded that, the meister gulped some more of the hot soup, savoring the rich taste.

"But what happened to you? I only understood that you and Kid were stranded in some strange place together all this time!" Soul wanted to know.

Maka suddenly sat up from the pillows, alert." _Kid_? What happened to him?" she cried, setting the bowl aside.

"Um… I don't know really. You were brought at the Academy by his magic skateboard, but you were both trashed and unconscious. Trashed _badly_! Luckily it turned out that your wounds were not so serious, but Kid… I don't know, I've heard that Lord Death had to take care of him personally all this time, because there was something involving magic, or his wounds were very bad… He hasn't been showing up at the Academy – Lord Death I mean - for three weeks now, ever since you arrived-"

"Soul, please! I need to know what happened to Kid! I need to know if he's alright!" Maka interrupted pleadingly, gripping his arm. "I need to-"

"Maka, calm down," the scythe boy said softly, trying to push her back on the pillows, "he's a shinigami, I mean what could happen to him? I'm sure he'll recover"

"You don't understand, Soul, Kid is my husband! If something happens to him…" she stopped, sniffing and shaking her head. When she looked up again, she noticed that her partner was completely perplexed.

"He is _what_?" Now Soul's smile had disappeared completely. "Maka, I don't think you're feeling too well," he said almost scared. "Kid as in 'Death the Kid, Lord Death's son' is _not_ your husband. He's just our friend and classmate and-"

Maka sighed, feeling incredibly worn again. "He's my husband, Soul. Look," she said, holding up her left hand bearing the young shinigami's skull shaped ring. "And that's why I've become a half-shinigami myself now, look at my eyes"

Soul looked, his gaze wandering back and forth between her now gold-ringed eyes and the ring on her tiny finger, and for a while simply stood there silent, scratching his head and disturbing his unruly spiked hair even further.

"But… you two weren't even… that close… if I remember correctly," he said eventually.

"Um… yeah, it kind of happened, you know," the blonde muttered, aware that it wasn't much of an explanation.

"Huh… I-I don't know what to say, Maka," Soul replied. "I mean Kid is okay, he really is but… I guess he could be like… your boyfriend or something. But _husband_ sounds a bit… I don't know… extreme? At our age and all…"

Maka nodded. "I know. And you're right, except… pretty much everything we went through this past year was quite extreme. Kid married me at first to save me from a horrible situation and… so we kind of skipped the boyfriend-girlfriend phase"

"So, um… what does Lord Death think about this? Not to mention… _your father_ "

* * *

Maka had slipped out of the apartment as Soul and Blair were having yet another heated argument on the subject of cooking or lack thereof. She had not bothered to dress – her large sweatpants and old t-shirt were just fine as far as she was concerned momentarily – and only when she was already out in the street she'd noticed that she was barefoot. But it didn't matter. All it mattered now was the dread that Lord Death was going to punish Kid for what had happened between them. And she simply couldn't let that happen, not only because she loved him but because she couldn't bear to have him punished for something she'd been the cause of all along. The meister could only pray that the shinigami would listen to her and would eventually be made to see reason.

By the time she made it to the Academy, her body had once again begun to burn with fever. People would look at her, they would stare and they would whisper, but she was blind and deaf to their presence. She knew from her father that Lord Death would be at the Academy today and she had to see him, speak to him no matter what. The blonde could only hope she wasn't too late.

As she walked determined towards the Death Room, as fast as her weak legs could carry her, Maka began to be afraid. Somehow she couldn't help being reminded of the time when she'd caught a glimpse of the darkness dwelling inside Kid, the night he'd killed the first Brother. It was something instinctive, inborn, something absolutely horrid yet completely suitable for a Death God, meant to manifest when needed. Fortunately, with Kid it had only manifested when truly needed, but as far as Lord Death was concerned there was no knowing… aside from the fact that he must have been quite furious about what had happened. And she could only hope her father wasn't there to stop her.

Feeling almost dizzy and with her breath already labored from the sheer effort of running all this way, Maka advanced under the long row of guillotines at the entrance. She couldn't back away now. Fortunately Lord Death was there, watching something through his mirror, and he was alone. _By Death, if he'd only listen to me…_

"Lord Death!" the blonde meister breathed out, finding it impossible to raise her voice past that faint sound.

The shinigami turned abruptly, abandoning his mirror, as a puzzled look made its way on his white skull mask. "Maka?"

She gulped, nails digging in the flesh of her palms as she inwardly struggled, suddenly unable to find her words. "Lord Death, I just wanted to say…" she paused and shook her head "I want to say that everything was my fault. _Everything_!" At this point tears began welling down her cheeks and she wiped them quickly, with a trembling hand. "I was… such a coward that I wanted to kill myself and I was so scared and I… I forced Kid to marry me. I swear, it wasn't his fault, none of it!"

"Oh, Maka…" Lord Death whispered, but the blonde didn't hear him.

"He did everything to protect me, to keep me safe, even though I didn't deserve it! So if there's a price to be paid, if you must punish someone, punish me! If you need to strike someone, strike me! I'm not afraid of anything!"

At this point Maka could no longer stand and she dropped to her knees, cowering until her forehead touched the cold floor. "Please, just don't hurt him! He's innocent! _Please_!"

The shinigami sighed, gliding closer and gingerly scooping the girl's trembling, sobbing form into his arms. "Oh, my poor child, you are burning with fever! Do not torment yourself this way… sleep now," he said softly and everything went black.


	21. Chapter 21

Something cold and soft like snowflakes danced over Maka's forehead, slowly descending to her cheek. She moaned softly, unwilling to open her eyes just yet. The blonde had woken up before, very briefly, only to find herself in an entirely unfamiliar place. The room, albeit quite cozy, was unusually spacious compared to what she was used to and the four poster bed was much larger than her own. The meister was also wearing a soft cotton nightgown which clearly wasn't hers, but it all felt very comfortable and aside from that she'd been so tired that she'd fallen right back asleep immediately after making these fleeting observations.

But right then she thought she'd heard something like a soft sigh, more like a faint breath and her eyes opened, sleepily. Kid was sitting on the edge of her bed, glancing down at her with a gentle smile and Maka realised that what she'd felt before had been his fingers caressing her. The young shinigami wore a simple white shirt which only accentuated his paleness – for he now looked paler than ever and tired, worn. Even his smile was barely there and there seemed to be some hint of sadness in it.

"Kid…" the blonde whispered, almost not daring to believe that he was really there, with her. "I want to be with you forever"

The reaper's smile widened some and he reached for her hand, bringing her delicate fingers to his lips. "Maka, forever is a very long time," he said and the other meister's stomach instantly cringed in fear. Of course, Kid would live forever, but _she_ would not. And she would get old and-…Gulping, she tried to prop herself a bit higher onto the pillows, while blinking back tears of despair.

"Kid, you are leaving me, aren't you?" she murmured faintly, squeezing her eyes shut as she pulled her hand away from his.

"I'm not going anywhere, Maka"

"You're dumping me! I can feel it, you came here to say goodbye!" the blonde cried, a bit louder.

"Wha-? No! Oh, Maka…" Kid leaned forward and gathered her in his arms gently. "You don't really think I'd do that, do you?" he asked, stroking her tousled hair. He titled her chin up and wiped her moist cheeks with his thumb. "I could never, ever leave you!"

"Then show me! Show me you are still… _more_ than my friend," Maka pleaded, sniffing and the young shinigami promptly pressed his lips against hers, cupping her face. Her hands gripped the front of his shirt as she kissed him fiercely, desperately even. The blonde leaned back on the pillows, pulling Kid on top of her as she parted her lips to allow him full access to her mouth. The reaper's fingers ghosted over her stomach over the thin fabric of her nightgown and Maka couldn't hold back a moan. By Death, had she missed his touch! Her own hands boldly slipped under Kid's shirt, just above the hem of his slacks, exploring his velvet soft, cool skin. To her relief, it was perfectly smooth, she did not sense any scars, but he pulled away suddenly, plopping down next to her instead with an awkward smile.

"Um… Maka… as much as I'd like to… we're at the Gallows Mansion and there is someone in the other room. Someone who might barge in any moment if they heard anything funny…" the shinigami explained reluctantly.

Maka frowned briefly and took a deep breath, before shifting to face him and intertwining their fingers together. "Okay…" she looked down to hide the blush of her cheeks "But then, stay with me?"

"Sure, but only until you fall asleep again," Kid agreed, reaching and brushing a rebellious strand away from her face with his free hand. "Talk to me. Just tell me something, anything, I want to hear more of your voice," he asked softly, his golden gaze taking in her every feature, so carefully that Maka almost began to feel self-conscious.

She made an effort to think of something to distract herself from the current situation, from all the 'unused' tension hanging between them. "Um… I remember… actually I just remembered the first time I saw you," she said quickly, not sure _that_ was something worth sharing with her lover, but well, he'd said 'anything'. Not to mention, he could read her mind anyway if he wanted. "You were in front of the school, firing your pistols at Soul and Black Star and… I thought you looked so… _badass_ that I…" she paused when the reaper let out a silent chuckle at her choice of words, "well, you really did look more badass than me, so I sort of instantly hated you for it." Maka paused again, chewing her lip nervously. "But then, a few minutes later you were lying on the ground, blood gushing from your nose because you'd lost a strand of hair and… well, once more the balance of the world was restored. I was the coolest again," she laughed, grinning widely.

"Oh my…" Kid laughed in turn." So at the end of the day, you are the coolest… Is Black Star aware of this, I wonder?"

"Better not mention it to him, I think," the blonde suggested. "Now it's your turn"

"Huh?"

"Yeah. Tell me what you thought when you first saw me"

The young shinigami rubbed his chin thoughtfully, thinking. "Um… the first time… the first time. Oh yes, the first time I saw you was when you and Black Star were out to capture Sid and Professor Stein. My father was watching everything through his mirror and I was there with him. I remember being slightly baffled – because I hadn't seen that many _human_ meisters until then and no one as young as you – and you were so strong, determined and brave, yet so… incredibly fragile. Of course, my father didn't bother to tell me that Stein actually worked for him and I was worried something might happen to you. I was about to come down there and save you"

Maka smiled, curling up closer to him. "Are you serious? You really wanted to save me? Because you thought I was brave?"

The reaper scrunched up his nose playfully, pondering. "Well, it might have been that or it might have been that I liked what I saw when Stein lifted your shirt…"

The blonde gasped, covering her mouth with her hand and shaking her head with a scowl. "Oh, by Death! You saw _that_?! It was awful, by Death! How embarrassing!" she grumbled, hiding her face in the crook of Kid's neck. _Damn, he'll never quit teasing me!_ "At any rate, I had no idea that I'd made such a good impression that you've _almost_ come and saved me," the meister snickered after a while. Of course, as much as she wanted to get back at him for teasing her again, she didn't have the heart to tell him that she knew _toilet paper_ had gotten in his way. No, Kid definitely wasn't flawless – in fact aside from being sweet, soft-spoken, gentle, protective and incredibly brave he was also confusing, weird, frustrating or down straight twisted sometimes – but she loved him with all her heart, her soul was his.

"Kid, I mean it," she murmured, "you really are my everything. And… I _would like_ to be with you forever…"

The young shinigami placed a quick peck on the tip of her nose. "I love you, Maka. I love you like I never loved anyone, like _I should have never loved anyone…_ But I do and… it was never the time to discuss this before but… actually you will, at least theoretically, live forever now that you have shinigami blood." He reached and pulled her closer as the blonde suddenly froze. "Does that scare you?"

Did it scare her? Maka didn't know. Probably not, not as long as he was there, holding her like that, pressing his lips into her hair, not as long as she could feel him close and almost hear his heart beat. No, but the thought of facing _forever_ without him was simply unbearable.

"No, but Kid… what did your father say?"

"Eh…n-not much…"

Maka pulled away a bit, looking up at her lover questioningly."What do you mean, 'not much'?"

The reaper sighed. "He's barely said a few words since I woke up. I suppose he is still mostly fuming in silence until he'll make up his mind what to do… I'm really not looking forward to it"

She only snuggled closer in reply, fingers helplessly fisting in the fabric of his shirt.

* * *

Something was off. The blonde blinked slowly and saw that the first light of dawn was already casting eerie shadows on the wall. But a body was pressed to hers and she smiled in relief– after all Kid had stayed with her after she'd fallen asleep. Sighing happily for now, Maka turned lazily to snuggle against him and very nearly poked her eye into something which looked like an enormous white nose. With a loud shriek, she jumped out of the bed, stumbling onto the bedside rug as she glanced in horror at the creature lying between the sheets, who also woke up abruptly at the sound of her cry.

"Fear not, Miss Albarn, I, the Holy Sword Excalibur, will not let any harm come to you!" Excalibur declared, now perched on top of the pillows. He was dressed in a peach silk pajamas and matching nightcap but his cane was nevertheless present.

"What the hell are _you_ doing here?! You..you…" the meister cried in shock, not even knowing how to describe him. What the hell was he, anyway?

The button-like eyes blinked questioningly, before Excalibur shook his head in disappointment. "FOOL!" he shouted. "Why wouldn't I be here? Who else but me could protect you from the evil reaper who's got his claws set upon your poor little heart?"

" _WHAT_?!" Maka clenched her fists to her sides, anger instantly wiping out all traces of the previous scare. "And I am not 'Miss Albarn'! What have you done with my husband?!" she demanded."And how dare you-"

"FOOL! Have you not listened to a thing I said?" the Holy Sword cut her off."Your _husband_? You two were married by _Kishins_ if I remember correctly and I am sad to see that you are still under his maleficent spell"

"I WANT KID!NOW!" the blonde shouted stubbornly, stomping her foot and the thought of picking up a slipper and hurling it straight into his face currently crossing her mind. Maka inwardly cursed herself for being such a goody-two-shoes that she couldn't even insult someone properly. But then again, what could you possibly say to insult someone who was beyond ridiculous to begin with?

"I beseech you, speak such sinful words no more, you silly girl!" Excalibur replied, jumping down from the bed and pointing his cane to a chair where a clean uniform had been laid down. "Now, since you're up anyway, Lord Death will see you for breakfast, at the Academy. That's right, he wants a word with you and a word he shall have, I presume. I am to take you there without any further 'events' occurring"

Maka instantly stiffened in fear at the news, ignoring the rest of Excalibur's incessant ranting. She grabbed the uniform and dressed quickly, despite the fact that the Holy Sword did not even give her the courtesy of momentarily removing himself from the room as she changed.

* * *

He continued to lecture her relentlessly all the way to the Academy, but the meister's own fears successfully tuned him out. She knew what Lord Death had to say at best – that it had all been a mistake he was willing to forgive, but that Kid could not be with her, even if she was a half-shinigami now. And that he'd probably already sent Kid in a mission or something far away from Death City and that she was supposed to forget about him. That she was still so very young, she would find someone else fit for her and be happy. _After all, Excalibur was right about one thing – we were married by Kishins. Maybe our marriage was never valid… maybe it was all just a dream, bound to end sooner or later_ … At best. There was no way of knowing what Lord Death was going to say _at worst_.

Once in front of the door to the Death Room, Excalibur knocked impatiently with the tip of his cane, then waited, while behind him Maka's stomach cringed from all the tension. She clenched her fists, palms sweating and nails digging into the flesh as the meister made an effort to steady her breathing.

"Oh, Maka! You're here!" Lord Death said cheerfully, in surprise, as the shinigami suddenly appeared in the doorframe and motioned for her to come inside. The Holy Sword also tried to follow, but the door to the Death Room was promptly shut in his nose.

"I'm afraid Excalibur is otherwise occupied for now and I did not wish to retain him," Lord Death explained, leading Maka under the long row of guillotines towards his small, skull-shaped tea table. "That and he annoys the hell out of me. He's always had. I suppose now I can speak freely about this"

The blonde sat down and stared hard at the steaming tea cup placed in front of her. "Lord Death... I know you're upset, but…"

"Let me tell you a little story, Maka," the shinigami said, in his usual calm tone and closing his oversized hands around his own cup, as if to get warm. "No one in Death City knows, but I have a younger brother. I rarely ever speak of him because, most unfortunately, he's gone down a wrong path, pretty much like my old friend Eibon. I don't know exactly when that happened, but he eventually fled Death City when it became known that he was going to have a child with a witch. He moved to a so-called Forbidden City – an underground place inhabited by witches, ghouls and the kind. He's also retired as a reaper and has gotten himself into some business of sorts"

_He must be the one Kid told me about! He never bothered to mention that 'the loon' is actually his uncle, which makes the other half-shinigami girl… his cousin?_

"Did he move there to be with his family?" Maka asked, without thinking too much. She shouldn't have said that – probably Lord Death wasn't happy with the idea. Lowering her gaze, she took a quick sip of tea.

But the shinigami simply shook his head, sighing. "Not really, no," he said, "He was never married to that woman, in fact he was out the door the moment he found out she was with child. He only took interest in his daughter when she was old enough to work with him. Or for him. Anyway, I had to resign and just let him be eventually-"

He got interrupted when the door opened abruptly and Kid walked in, still arguing with Excalibur, who managed to get inside this time. "Just quit with the cane, you idiot!" the younger shinigami shouted. "And no, I'm not getting a div-..Oww!" he yelped when said cane promptly hit him over the head.

The Holy Sword walked proudly to Lord Death's table, almost dragging Kid after him."Now sit down and shut up!" he instructed. The reaper plopped down next to his father and across from Maka with a gloomy expression.

"Why the hell does _he_ have to be here?!" he questioned Lord Death, only to have the cane slammed over his head again.

"FOOL! Why wouldn't I be here? Do you not see the importance of my role?!" the Holy Sword demanded.

The older shinigami waved his hand dismissively at the momentary interruption, clearing his throat. "Where was I? Oh yes, about my brother… So he left and we never spoke again. Now, many years later, Kid - ever faithful to his habit of doing things behind my back and thinking I'd never find out – (Kid rolled his eyes at this and rubbed his fingers against his forehead, giving the blonde an exasperated glance) somehow met his uncle and apparently spent quite some time with him and his cousin. And they taught him stuff he was never supposed to learn"

"You mean… the black magic?" The blonde shuddered inwardly recalling the gruesome spell the young reaper had performed in order to bring down the Kishins.

Lord Death nodded. "I know what you think – there was no other way – and I do not doubt it. But I expected my son to know that I'd rather have him flee from a fight he can't win than have him destroy his own soul with a blood spell. Because that's what almost happened and it took quite an effort to heal his wounds. And you say 'don't punish him'…"

At this point, Kid had sunken very low in his seat, as if he wished to disappear under the table entirely, while Excalibur sat straight and solemn, popping pastry after pastry under his gigantic nose.

"See, that's why I thought Excalibur should stay here for a while and keep an eye on him," Lord Death added. Which did not explain what the hell was the Holy Sword doing sleeping in her bed though, the blonde thought.

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't know…" Maka stuttered. "Um… actually I thought you were upset about the marriage…"

The younger shinigami's gaze snapped up at her words and he discreetly shook his head. But there was no use wasting any more time and _not_ addressing the elephant in the room. Having _that_ talk was unavoidable.

"Ah, yes," the shinigami said, in a more cheerful tone this time, as if it had slipped his mind completely, "and then there is also the marriage… As I am sure you realise, at the end of the day a marriage is just a marriage. The _marriage_ is not the problem here…"

"Father, I can expl-" Kid tried to say, but Lord Death raised his hand to stop him, shaking his head.

"No! I have already heard all the explanations. Listen to me carefully now, both of you. I know what you think the problem is, but I am not angry with my brother because he had a child _per se_ , or for loving that woman – which he never did anyway, but because he only did it for the sake of some fleeting amusement and pleasure. Having certain gifts, or certain powers or certain knowledge is a great responsibility, because the temptation of doing thingsjust because _we can_ , oblivious to the consequences and the suffering they may cause others, is always there. "

He paused and sighed, turning to the blonde meister and reaching and covering Maka's tiny hand with his own large one. "Maka, you are such a sweet child and I've always loved you, just like I've always loved your mother. I couldn't be more pleased to have you as part of my family now! But precisely because I love you so much, I couldn't bear to have my own son hurt you in any way"

Maka almost gasped and blinked in surprise at what she was hearing. Could it really be possible for Lord Death to eventually accept their relationship? She glanced questioningly at Kid, but the young shinigami only shrugged with a light grimace.

"That is why," Lord Death went on, "before I convince myself that my son is completely serious about this, I don't think he should be 'telling you any more bedtime stories' for a while"

The blonde's breath hitched in her throat at hearing this as embarrassment washed over her and she blushed furiously, burying her face in her hands, wishing she would just disappear or be anywhere but there.

"By Death, father, did you really have to say _that_ out loud?" Kid grumbled.

"Actually, I did," the older shinigami replied good-humored. "And now it's time for-"

"FOOLS! Now it is time for my speech in front of the students, like you promised! You haven't forgotten, have you?!" Excalibur cut him off after finishing the last pastry and sipping the last drop of his tea. He jumped from his seat, brandishing his cane excitedly, while Lord Death snapped his fingers, making the tea table vanish, instead his large mirror came forth, allowing the Holy Sword to be seen by all students of the Academy.

"And thus, we begin!" Excalibur declared to the audience. "Victory and glory will be yours if you open your young minds to my words of wisdom! I foresee a fantastic opportunity… etc. etc."

"I foresee a violent headache," Lord Death supplied discreetly.

Kid walked up and dropped with a scowl into the large, skull decorated chair beside the mirror, pulling a still blushing Maka gently to sit into his lap. He stroked her honey colored hair, which she now no longer wore in pigtails but was instead loose down her shoulders, brushing a stray strand behind her ear.

"I can't believe this…" she murmured, burying her nose in the crook of his neck while a smile crept on her face at last.

"I know, right?" the young reaper agreed, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles softly. "No more bedtime stories…" He tsked.

_Damn, he's teasing me AGAIN!_ Letting out a deep breath, Maka pressed her lips tightly. "Mr. Death?"

"Yes, Mrs. Death?"

"Do you know what will happen now?"

Kid raised an eyebrow, innocently.

"Something intense…" the blonde hissed, pulling a thick dictionary out of her pocket.

**THE END**


End file.
